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DEPOSITED BY THE
LINONIAN AND BROTHERS LIBRARY

Courtesy of the Pan American -Union
Palm Avenue, Rio de Janeiro^ Brazil

LANDS AND PEOPLES SERIES

SOUTH AMERICA
A GEOGRAPHY READER

By Isaiah Bowman, A ssistant Professor of
Geography tn Yale University, with an intro
duction to the series by Richard Elwood
Dodge, Professor of Geography, Teachers
College, Columbia University

RAND McNALLY & CQMPANY
Chicago New York

Copyright, iffis.
By Isaiah Bowman

gtlto 3aatt&-3jEtcjttaUM 3Pree«
Chicago

THE PREFACE
South America, even more than Africa, has for years
been the Dark Continent to the average teacher. Its
geographic literature is meager, and much of it is in Span
ish, Portuguese, and German. Where can the teacher go
for a lively description of the long desert of Atacama?
Until the English edition of Brazil by Pierre Denis was
published (19 11), where could be found a real explanation
of the geographic provinces of that country? To-day
the best work on the Argentine is in French; and the best
brief description of the high plateaus of Bolivia and Peru
is in German. It is impossible for the busy teacher in
the public schools to gather from the best books, even if
lists of them were available, the material for good work
on the geography of South America.
The aim of this little book is to put into convenient
form for elementary students some of the material I have
gathered during the past ten years of study and travel.
It is not a handbook. It does not pretend to cover all
parts of the continent in the same detail. I have chosen
those subjects that appear to me to be most interesting
or most important in, the present state of knowledge of
South America. No one who writes a book worth reading
applies a foot rule to his subject. I conceive that an
excellent geography of any continent might be written for
children which dealt only with houses or dress or villages
or roads. No one carries, or indeed could carry, into his
maturer years a well-proportioned knowledge of grammar-
school subjects. That some knowledge should stick and
that it should be sound and important — these are the
chief considerations. So the question of presentation is,
(v)

VI THE PREFACE
first, the determination of what is sound and valuable, and
—what is of at least equal importance — how it can be
presented so as to be interesting.
Endless experiment is needed. The best results are
not easy to achieve. Thus new books are appearing
which are worth while if they present1 new facts or illus
trate better methods. Whether the method followed in
the pages of this book is better than those now in vogue,
only experience will tell. Many of the facts I have gath
ered first-hand in the course of various scientific expedi
tions to Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and the Argentine, and these
will have at least some interest for the teacher, if not for
the pupil.
Most of the illustrations are from my own collections.
Others have been gathered from various sources acknowl
edged in the text. I wish here to express my hearty
thanks for the help received in this form. I am particu
larly indebted to Neville B. Craig for the exqellent photo
graphs of the Madeira River region in the chapter on
the Amazon.
Yale University IsAIAH BOWMAN
December 10, 1914

THE INTRODUCTION
Many attempts have been made in the past to prepare
supplementary geography readers that would enable
teachers to increase the emphasis that can be given to
the picturesque side of geography — that is, to add good,
strong side lights to the necessarily brief and sometimes
formal presentation of the more comprehensive text
books. Such reading-matter obviously ought to be as
accurate, authoritative, and systematic as the material
of a textbook, and must be presented in an appealing
and readable form. Children of the age to get profit
from such supplementary work are attracted by a volume
that tells a story in an absorbing and enlightening way,
just as they are by a story full of action. In either case,
the book that causes the child to curl up in a corner and
lose himself in his reading is the valuable book, provided
its contents are sound, inspiring, and educative in the
best sense. Children want to have faith in the realness
and the value of what they read and to be able to relate
the newly acquired material to the more familiar matter
gained in formal study.
The editor and publishers have attempted to meet
these demands in the series of supplementary volumes,
of which this is the second to appear. Each author who
is contributing to this series is a geographer of high
repute, an authority on the . country described, whose
accottnts are accepted as standard by the scientific world.
Each one writes from a fullness of knowledge of the
facts depicted and with a keen appreciation of the way
the people in each country reflect the influence of the

Vlll THE INTRODUCTION
geographic surroundings in their habits and customs.
The editor has secured the services of the several authors,
has planned the larger features of treatment, and has edited
. the manuscripts from a common viewpoint so as to secure
a certain uniformity of plan of presentation, but he has
in no way sacrificed the individuality of the authors'
work. Thus the series will be a collection of expert treatises,
written for a special purpose and from a common view
point. It will not be a compilation of the work of others
or a series of travelers' notes especially prepared to amuse.
It will be a standard treatment of the world by regions,
from the modern standpoint that geography is a study
of the earth in its relation to man and life and that the
most interesting topics in geography deal with the lives
of peoples and the reasons for their habits, customs,
industries,- and distribution.
Richard Elwood Dodge
Teachers College
Columbia University '
New York City

THE CONTENTS

The Preface . . ..... v
The Introduction .  vii
A List of the Map Plates . . x

I. People and the Land They Conquered i
II. The Southernmost People in the World 14
III. Patagonia, the "No Man's Land" of the Old
Geographies  21
IV. The Argentine .... 35
V. The Valleys of Central Chile . . 73
VI. The Coastal Desert of Chile and Peru 84
VII. The Highland Dwellers of Bolivia and Peru 128 ¦
VIII. The Inca Kings and People . . 161
IX. The Plains and Indians of El Gran Chaco 176
X. Paraguay . ... . 185
XL Uruguay: The Smallest Country in South
America . . . . 192
XII. ,-Brazil: The Country of Many Interests . . 199
XIII. Amazonia: Land of Great Forests and Rivers . 237
XIV; Ecuador: Land of Volcanoes . . . 270
XV. Lowland and Highland Peoples of Colombia 294
XVL The Mountains and Llanos of Venezuela . 314
XVII. The Guianas: The Only European Colonies
in South America  342
The Index  xiii

A LIST OF THE MAP PLATES
PAGE
Mean annual rainfall  facing 8
A political map of South America  between 8 and. 9
Mild belts  :'.  facing 9
Southern South America  facing 35
Mean January temperature  facing 124
Mean July temperature  '.  facing 125
Mean January rainfall  facing 202
A relief map of South America  between 202 and 203
Mean July rainfall.  facing 203
Density of population  facing 316
A vegetation map of South America  between 316 and 317
Races of man  s ,  facing 317

Quichua Indians and donkey loaded with wheat straw, Cuzco, Peru.
Also portion of the famous palace formerly used
by the Inca rulers

SOUTH AMERICA:
A GEOGRAPHY READER
CHAPTER I
PEOPLE AND THE LAND THEY CONQUERED
The "Conquistadores" or Conquerors. In one of the
stories of The Arabian Nights Sindbad of the Sea landed
at the "City of Apes," so called because the tall coconut
trees along the shore and the caves in the mountains
were inhabited by great numbers of these terrifying
beasts. The houses of the city were built overlooking
the water with doors that opened to the sea, and every
evening for fear of the apes the people embarked in
boats to return at daylight. If a man stayed behind
for the night the apes came down from the trees and the
mountains, entered his house, and killed him. During the
day the apes threw coconuts at the people, and these
were carefully gathered both for food and to exchange for
merchandise brought in ships from other lands.
Like all the other stories in The Arabian Nights, the
story of the City of Apes was told merely to entertain
people, though at the same time it taught them that
there were such things in the world as apes, and coco
nuts, and trade.
More than a hundred and fifty years ago a number
of books on geography were written full of equally won
derful tales of strange lands and people, all supposed to
be true. Indeed, these tales were read even by grown
people with very much the same interest that children now
read fairy stories. Each chapter ended with an account

2 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
of the "rarities " or "curiosities " of some country, in which
were told the wildest tales that travelers could invent.
The people of Russia were said to wear clothes made
from the woolly skin of a melon; the Amazon Basin was
inhabited by a race of women of great size whose heads
were placed not above their shoulders but between
them; and in other parts of South America there lived
beasts having the body of a man, the head of a lion, and
the face of an ape. One of the most incredible ' ' wonders
in these books was that of El Dorado, a tale that was
believed for several hundred years after the discovery
' of America, and on account of which men actually left their
homes by thousands to fight under foreign skies
There are many contradictory accounts of the beginning
of the story of El Dorado. Perhaps the most reliable
among these is one which relates that the story was first
brought to the Spanish conquerors by an Indian in Ecua
dor. Knowing that love for gold was the ruling passion
of the Spaniards, he told them that in the remote interior
there was said to be a "Man of Gold." About the Indian
who brought the tale the Spanish soldiers came crowding
and questioning. "Was the place at a great distance?"
' ' How could one get there ? " " Would he show them the
way?" No one thought to ask, "Is the tale true?"
because those were the days of marvelous discoveries and
bold adventures. Not only were men having amazing
experiences — they were always expecting greater marvels
than any that had come to pass and were eager to believe
the wildest fancies. So when they heard of El Dorado
their imaginations played with the story until they
thought the Indian had told them that El Dorado was
a great city filled with gold palaces, and that it was
inhabited by men and women dressed in gold cloth, and,
with gold spoons, eating food cooked in golden kettles.

PEOPLE AND THE LAND THEY CONQUERED 3
Though the story was not true it was long believed,
like similar stories about the fountain of youth and
King Solomon's mines, and the belief drew thousands of
adventurers into the wilderness in search of sudden
wealth. The explorers and the conquerors of that period
traveled up' and down many rivers, crossed lofty moun
tains,' and upon their return published maps and notes
which for a long time furnished people with the only
information they could get about the great interior of
South America. Perhaps without the story of El Dorado
and the search for it the first explorations of the vast
interior of the Amazon Basin might have been delayed for
a hundred years. In the footsteps of the explorers,, and
sometimes even in their company, went missionaries of
the church, baptizing the natives, christening the children,
and erecting missions where they might teach the Indians
"for the glory of the cross."
The True El Dorado. With the " conquistadores"
and the missionaries, and in greater numbers after them,
came farmers and herdsmen, whose object was not to
search for gold or -silver but to make homes in a new
country. Some of them, sailing south from Panama,
settled in the rich valleys of P,eru, others settled in central
Chile and oh the shores of the La Plata estuary, and
there were some for 'whom the unknown Andes offered
no terrors and who founded trading posts and homes
in the remotest mountain valleys and even in the forests
of the great Amazon lowland. While the greater num
ber of the newcomers were men, there were also a few
women and children who faced dangers and hardships
that appalled the strongest. These people were the
real conquerors of South America. On the pampas of
the Argentine, the plains and valleys of Venezuela, and
in the mountain basins and valleys of Peru and Chile

4 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
they discovered an El Dorado far richer than any of
which the early explorers had dreamed, for the soil is

Fig. i. Fertile irrigated garden farms near Lima, Peru.
Almost every, foot of ground is used. The water is
obtained from the Rimac River
the enduring wealth of the land (Figs, i and 2). Little
did they think that their descendants would live to see new
nations arise, great herds feeding upon once empty grass
lands, and the crowded peoples of western, Europe depend
ent for at least a part of their food supply upon the grain
fields and pastures that their explorations had made
known. The Wars of Emancipation. For several hundred
years -the settlers remained loyal to the monarchs- of
Spain, paying taxes and on the whole obeying the laws,
whether these were good or bad. When sd-called Spanish
rule came to be recognized as misrule, and the laws and
taxes of Spain became too irksome, the settlers began
what are known as the "Wars of Emancipation." Each

PEOPLE AND THE LAND THEY CONQUERED 5
group of settlers had its own particular grievance against
Spain, and each was separated from its neighbors by
miles of wjld, unsettled country. The settlements about
Caracas and the seaport La Guaira joined with those at
Valencia, and, after a long, heroic campaign, defeated the
armies of Spain and founded the republic of Venezuela.
About the same time there was fighting in Peru and in
Chile; and on the shores of the Rio de la Plata the
settlers were planning the overthrow of Spain and the

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
FlG. 2. Picking cotton with Chinese labor on irrigated land
in a fertile valley at the foot of the Andes,
Uitarte, Peru

6 SOUTH AMERICA:, A GEOGRAPHY READER
establishment of a confederation that has since grown to
be the Argentine Republic. Gradually each group became
independent, and republics were formed with governments
modeled after that of the United States.
The Character of the People. Although the white
people of South America are for the most part descendants
of Spaniards and Portuguese they are by no means alike
in character. Some are children of the wide pampas or
grasslands of the Argentine; others live a secluded life in
the mountain fastnesses of the Andes; in the rubber
forests of the wet Amazon lowlands are isolated settle
ments rarely visited by white men even to-day; while in
the smiling valleys of central Chile, where the climate is
temperate, there live the energetic Chileans.
The differences between these various groups of people
in many ways remind us strikingly of similar differences
among plants and animals and suggest that people, like
plants and animals, are to some extent what their surround
ings make them. On the wet Orinoco lowlands, when the
river floods the country for -miles the people have to live in
the second stories of their houses, or in the trees like some
species of frogs. The bronzed and weather-beaten faces of
the desert people remind us of the cactus with its thorns
and hard exterior; the tempests_ of the pampas and the
fleet guanaco are scarcely more wild than the gauchos,
a class of men in some respects like the picturesque cow-
"boys of our western plains.
Just as we can tell a Scotchman from an Irishman or
a Persian from an Armenian, so we can tell a Peruvian
from a Chilean or a Colombian from a Brazilian. Not
only are there differences of speech from place to place
but also slightly different custom's which appear to
have grown out of the kind of place in which the people
have settled as well as the province in Spain or Portugal

PEOPLE AND THE LAND THEY CONQUERED 7
om which they came. With the growth of separate
republics and national spirit these differences have
become greater. The native of Valparaiso no longer says
with the man from Quito or Lima, "I am a Spaniard,"
but "I am a Chilean." Men who herd cattle are likely
to be different from men who hoe gardens or gather rubber
on great rivers. In some countries real statesmen have
been developed, in others the government has been run
by coarse politicians who have robbed the people; one
country has enjoyed a stable government because the
people are proud of their flag and teach their children
loyalty to rulers; another country has on the average a
new revolution every eighteen months !
To one who has enjoyed the hospitality of a shepherd's
hut in the mountains, or lived for weeks in the saddle
riding through the grassy plains of the Argentine, or
walked for days in and out of the houses of the coffee
pickers in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, even< the smaller
differences among the people of South America appear
as interesting as the larger differences that give each
nation distinction.
The Anglo-Saxon race to which we belong is known in
the world for its force of character, its habit of speaking
directly to the point, and, to some, for its lack of polite
manners. 'The Latin peoples — among them the Italians
and the Spaniards — think Anglo-Saxons are rather rude
and are inclined to boast that even if Latin peoples are
not so successful in making vast sums of money they are
at least polite in making a little money.
A man from Boston once visited a schoolroom in Spain
and heard the teacher tell the children that Americans
are very cruel. "Just think," she said, "American boys
have been known to fight with their fists, like animals,
until their noses became bloody." Upon his return the

8 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
traveler happened to step into a schoolroom in Boston
and there heard a teacher say: "The Spaniards are
a cruel and bloodthirsty people. Every Sunday they
gather around a great arena and watch bullfights at which
bulls are cruelly killed, horses gored, and men trampled
by infuriated beasts." The Spaniards are no more
cruel than we, some of them are much more courteous,
and many of them are also very energetic and successful.
Perhaps it would be well if each race gained the best
qualities of the. other. It certainly would do no one
harm to be as polite as a Spaniard.
The stranger is everywhere made to feel at home by
the charming phrase, "Please consider my house your
own," whether the host lives in a hut or a palace. From
those who live in the larger cities the phrase carries
good will rather than a real invitation to move your
baggage into the best room. From the owner of a rich
hacienaa (plantation) or from the humble shepherd it
carries a literal meaning. A traveler once stopped at
a Bolivian hut on the edge of the Amazon Basin. He
had come from the cool highlands in a single day and .
was too tired to do more than eat some soup and fried
yuca and to accept the owner's invitation to sleep in
the dining room, an invitation which ended with the
usual phrase — "because it is your house, you know."
But the close air of the stuffy little room, the pest of
flies and mosquitoes, and the cackling of the startled
hens roosting over the table on which the traveler had
spread his bed, made sleep impossible, so the next dayv
he pitched his tent near the bank of a river some distance
from the hut. At this the owner was very angry. It
appeared to him as if his invitation had been scorned,
and only after long explanation could he be made to see
that the soft sand bar-, covered with driftwood and well

vr

A\

TROPIC OF CANCER

"West

T^~~^l N D I
Central f
—\ cARIBBB*JV , J/;,
America! J^ ^°
5.- /kW.\™«j

40" to bo"

jo" to 4.0" '¦ So" to 120'
U 1 30" to 100"

"a

« ° s L/i
, J) VENEZUEfcAjf
I ) f# /T7 \ V -¦
I [ tg+jaaeoTi I ivi.,-
_' COLOMBIA X7^ —
4L

\j5

^t»"£

.TOR <J

Plate I. Mean annual rainfall

• ado
11O1A

il!-feJ-.rri£(»'C4

Copyright, 1015, by Band McNally & Co.

Plate TT. A political map of South America

Feiutao do
.-.baoNiiA I.
h, Sao'Roqu.

Plate III. Mild bells

PEOPLE AND THE LAND THEY CONQUERED g
supplied with fresh water, was an ideal camp site for
people accustomed to sleep in the open. To offer to pay
a hacendado for a night's lodging is to break a friendship
which on his part began when he invited you to rest
yourself and your beasts under his roof.
Harbors and Products. The countries of South Amer
ica for the most part enjoy easy access to the long coast
and to the world's trade routes. A position in the
remote interior would mean a degree of isolation that
would prevent growth because products would have
to be shipped down long winding rivers or across lofty
mountains. Only Paraguay and Bolivia are without a
seacoast, though Paraguay has a river channel which
brings steamers to the gates of the country. Bolivia,
on the other hand, depends upon railways across Chile
and Peru, having lost all of her maritime territory to
Chile during the war of 1879-1883.
Like so many other conditions in South America,
this is not well known to many of the people of other
continents. Some years ago a European nation had
trouble with Bolivia and one of the European statesmen
is said to have remarked that if Bolivia did not come to
terms it would be necessary to send a battleship over
to South America and bombard La Paz, the capital of
Bolivia. In order to bombard the city the guns of that
battleship would have had to shoot about four hundred
miles ! Of course the statesman felt very much ashamed
when he was told that La Paz was so far from the sea,
and we may be sure that before he talked any more about
Bolivia he opened an atlas and studied the geography of
South America.
Since nearly all the countries of South America border
the sea, a trip around the continent gives the traveler
some idea of the various people and their products.

10 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
Along the coast are the important harbors which serve
as gateways- to the great interior spaces. At Para, is
the rubber hunter; the man who gathers turtles' eggs
for a living; the German merchant who trades manufac
tured goods for crude rubber. At Bahia the warehouses
contain cacao, tobacco, and sugar. At Santos the air is
loaded with the odor of coffee, and ships from all the
coffee-drinking countries of the world crowd the docks.
The grain boats that come down the Parana, from Rosario,
as well as the steamers at the docks of Buenos Aires, tell

Fig. 3. A railway line up the face of the steep three-thousand-
foot bluff at Caleta Buena, northern Chile. Nitrate
of soda is the chief export

PEOPLE AND THE LAND THEY CONQUERED II

us Of the extensive farms and ranches and the wide
spaces of the pampas of the Argentine, while the boats
from the southern
coast carry great
cargoes of wool
brought to Gal-
legos and Porto
Madryn by the
lonely sheep herd
ers of the bleak
gravel plains of
Patagonia. Nowhere in
South America is
there a more pe
culiar coast than
in northern Chile,
where the steep
cliffs rising sever
al thousand feet

Fig. 4.

The rough surface of a salt plain in
the desert of northern Chile

above the sea are bare from top to bottom and seem
to lead up to a desert quite unfit for man (Fig. 3).
But beyond those great cliffs is a pampa, or plain, which
contains nitrate, a. substance so valuable and so rare
that ships from almost every country in the world lie
in near-by ports to receive cargoes of it. This nitrate is
to be used in fertilizers, gunpowder, . and other chemicals
in both Europe and North America (Fig. 4). The
cotton and sugar of Peru (Figs. 1 and 2) are carried to
northern countries in large quantities, and in Ecuador
there are produced every year thousands of pounds of
cacao, from which some of our chocolate and cocoa is
made (Fig. 5).
When a man buys a rubber coat he is buying in part the

12 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
labor of a savage who gathered sap from a rubber tree,
smoked it over a fire of palm nuts, and carried it down-

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
Fig. 5. Gathering cacao pods from which the chocolate and
cocoa of commerce are produced, La Clementine
plantation, Ecuador
stream in a dugout canoe; when we drink coffee we are
drinking a product of the red soil and brilliant sunshine
of Sao Paulo, Brazil; the shoes on our feet may have
been made from the hide of an Argentine steer; the big
guns of our battleships, as well as the firecrackers used
in our celebrations, may be charged with powder contain
ing nitrate from Chile; and the chocolate for the frosting

PEOPLE AND THE LAND THEY CONQUERED 13
on our cake once grew as the seed of the cacao tree in
cucumber-shaped pods and was gathered and dried by
some swarthy, barefooted native in "the land of the
Equator."

CHAPTER II
THE SOUTHERNMOST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD
The Home of the Yaghan Indians. At the extreme
end of the group of islands that fringe the southern
end of South America live the Yaghan Indians, the
remnants of a folk in many respects unique among the
savage people of the earth. Some idea of the kind of
place which they inhabit may be gained from the map
(Plate IV), which shows that the Yaghans live in latitude
fifty-five degrees to fifty-six degrees south, or about as far
south of the equator as Sitka, Alaska, is north.
Like the Eskimo, the Yaghan is a child of nature. His
life is a constant fight for food, of which there is little
enough in a land so wet and cold. Like the "roaring
forties," this is a region where the west winds sweep over
land and sea. Steep mountains rise abruptly from the
water's edge, and about their peaks storm clouds hover
almost constantly. At least three hundred days of
the year are cloudy. A dull sky, rain-swept mountain
sides, the wind a gale, the sea beating the shores of the
outer islands furiously, snow- and ice-crowned mountain
tops, — these are almost constant elements of the scenery
in this land of the southernmost people in the world.
The great naturalist, Darwin, as a young man made a
very important study of the region and wrote the first
clear description of the people. The following quotation
is from his well-known book, The Voyage of the Beagle.
" The lofty mountains boldly rise to a height of between
three and four thousand feet. They are covered by a
wide mantle of perpetual snow, and numerous cascades
pour their waters through the woods, into the narrow
14

THE SOUTHERNMOST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD iS
channel below. In many parts, magnificent glaciers
extend from the mountain side to the water's edge. It
is scarcely possible to imagine anything more beautiful
than the beryl-like blue of these glaciers, and especially
as contrasted with the dead white of the upper expanse
of snow. The fragments which had fallen from the glacier
into the water were floating away, and the channel
(Beagle Channel) with its icebergs presented, for the
space of a mile, a miniature likeness of the Polar Sea."
The Yaghans are among the most primitive people on
the earth to-day. The leisure and wealth that many of
the people of the temperate zones possess is here unknown.
The food supply in any particular place is small, hence
the number of people found in any one place is small.
From twenty to thirty men and women may live together
as a clan, sharing in common the food supply and the
danger of securing it. The entire energy of every man,
woman, and child is spent in getting food, and this is
usually of the poorest kind. If the members of a group
are not actually engaged in gathering clams, seals, and
fish — their principal diet — they are searching every cove
for a favorable place in which food may be found. Often
a single family of three or four — mother, father, and chil
dren — live apart from the rest in an isolation that appears
to us both strange and fearful. The .necessity for assist
ance in case of accident, of protection against an enemy,
and the getting of food, is so great that life is more tolerable
when a few families live together as a group and have
a certain amount of assistance from each other in time
of need.
Sea Food and Canoe Fires. Instead of our comfortable
houses they have only the roughest shelter of bark and
twigs such as an animal might find at nightfall; instead of
having a fixed home they move frequently and abandon

1 6 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
one place as soon as a better food supply can be found
in another; although they live in a very bleak and cheer
less land their clothing is only a piece of sealskin which
but partly covers the body and is shifted from one side
to the other to correspond with the direction of the wind !
A regular food supply from meal to meal and from
week to week is to them unknown. If a dead whale is
washed ashore there is a feast; such also is the case if an
exceptionally good bank of shells is found upon some
little-visited beach. But it often happens that a storm
arises and lasts for days, confining the canoes to the
land. Then if there is no food accumulated, and if
the storm is severe enough, the group may be reduced
to actual starvation.
Travel by land is so difficult that it is rarely under
taken. Furthermore, these people are children of the sea
rather than of the land. They are as much at' home in a
canoe as they are when walking on the shore. So little
attached does it become to any particular home place,
that when an Indian family goes out on a voyage it car
ries along its fire, kept burning upon some earth in the
bottom of the canoe, thus assuring means for warmth
and cooking when the next landing is made.
The Onas of Tierra del Fuego. Upon Tierra del
Fuego are the Onas, a primitive group of people who
still lead a savage life such as their fathers led. Once their
homes were scattered over the whole island, but since
the coming of the European settlers, more than thirty
years ago, they have been driven from the plains and
are found only in the mountains of the south. The
lowlands are now almost completely occupied by the '
sheep ranches of the white people.
Before the whites came, the Onas depended chiefly
upon the guanaco for food and clothing. Like its cousin

THE SOUTHERNMOST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD 17
the llama (Fig. 74), the guanaco appears to be half sheep,
half camel, is very swift, and yields a warm, soft skin
much used for clothing. But with increase in settlers
the guanaco became very scarce. The Onas called the
sheep of the settlers "white guanaco," and found them
easier to catch and their flesh tenderer and sweeter than
that of the wild animals which had formerly been their
main source of food. The guanaco became so scarce
that the Onas, probably without thought of wrong,
began to kill and eat the sheep that grazed on the land
from which they had been driven. So many sheep were
thus taken that the whites finally began a cruel war
against the Onas, in some cases hiring men to kill them
at sight. Some of them were captured and shipped to
Dawson Island (latitude 54° S.), where tuberculosis has
swept off most of those that were spared from the bullet.
Even the blubber of the whale stranded upon the shores
is said to have been poisoned so that those Indians who
depended upon it for food would be killed.
The Mountain Refuge of the Onas. Were Tierra del
Fuego composed wholly of plain doubtless the Onas would
have been entirely destroyed by this time. But the
southern part is mountainous and stormy and -covered
in part with dense forests. It is not the kind of country
desired by the sheep farmer or ranchman, and here the
Onas have made their last stand.
The lower mountain slopes of southern Tierra del Fuego
are covered with evergreen beech trees and various
shrubs. About two thousand feet above the sea the
forests thin out and so bush-like do the trees become
that one can step over them. In many places on the
lower lands the growth is so rank that one cannot make
headway except by cutting a path with an ax. From
the twisted trunks hang long festoons of mosses and

1 8 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
lichens and the sweet fungus which resembles mucilage
and is eaten by the Indians. Soft mosses, carpeting

Fig. 6. ¦ Part of the town of Punta Arenas, Strait of Magellan

the ground, hold the water at the surface and turn part
of it into impassable bog.
"Among the mosses, and along the wood edges, delicate
ferns, yellow violets, orchids, cranberries, compositse,
and other plants are found. But perhaps one of the most
beautiful shrubs in the world is a flaming red honeysuckle
like plant. . As one cruises about the channels its
flowers paint on the hillsides broad patches of beauti
ful red against its darker background of sombre green.
The flowers here have practically no odor, but on bright
sunny days, which sometimes do occur in this weird,
sombre land, make the wood edges and grass lands quite
gay in midsummer (December 21st)." (Furlong.)
The Southernmost City in the World. On the north
ern shore of the Strait. of Magellan is Punta Arenas, a
city of fifteen thousand people, which has the distinction
of being the southernmost town in the world (Fig. 6).
Unlike Africa and Australia, South America extends well

THE SOUTHERNMOST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD 19
toward the Antarctic Circle. Cape Town in South Africa
is only as far south of the equator as New Orleans is north ;
hut Punta Arenas is as far south of the equator as Sitka,
Alaska, is north of it. A map of the ocean trade routes
of- South America shows how important is the position
of this unique town (Plate II). It is on the only water
route through the southern Andes. Boats from Europe,
Africa, or the east coast of North America desiring to
make the west coast of South America have a choice of
two routes: either the exposed and stormy route around
Cape Horn, where one vessel in ten is lost or disabled,
or the quieter and shorter route through the Strait of,
Magellan past Punta Arenas.
The strait is so narrow, however (in one place it is
only a mile between the lofty shores) , that sailing vessels
find it very difficult to pass except with the most favorable
wind and sea. Punta Arenas is therefore a great repair
and coaling station for steamships on- the southern
routes, as Stanley on the Falkland Islands (Plate IV),
several hundred miles east of the strait, is the great
repair and supply station for sailing vessels. Fleets of
steamers anchor in the port of Punta Arenas." Some of
them receive coal for the long voyages between Europe
and the west coast of South America. In addition,
some of them receive the products of the country — the
sheep, hides, tallow, and wool of the region north of
the port.
Punta Arenas itself is a revelation to one expecting
to see frontier conditions. It has electric lights, a few
well-paved streets, a newspaper, and good telephone and
cable' service, The name of the town is the Spanish for
sandy point (Punta = point; Arena = sand).
The prosperity of Punta Arenas depends largely upon
the pastures north of the strait. East °£ tne Andes

20 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
Mountains and extending northward for five hundred
miles is a narrow belt of rich grazing country, whose
southern end is now occupied by thousands , of cattle,
horses, and sheep. The products of the flocks and
herds that graze on the plains bordering the strait Sxe
carried in huge wagons to Punta Arenas, whence they
are shipped to the mills and factories of Europe and
America, whither the steamers of the port are bound.
The life of the herders in the sheep and cattle pastures
of this region is that of the ranch and camp. It is the
kind of life so well known in the United States from the
early ranching people Of Wyoming and western Texas —
a careless, free, out-of-door life with much privation from
winter storms, snows, and cold, with plain fare, rough
speech, a cheerful hospitality, and a certain frankness not
always found in the manners of people who dwell in cities.
Many of the shepherds riot only care for their flocks
but also cultivate a few vegetables, and live in perma
nent homes. These men are for the most part English
and Scotch. They have found here a country as well
suited to grazing as their own, and where it is easier to
make a living than in the crowded homeland.

CHAPTER III
PATAGONIA, THE "NO MAN'S LAND" OF THE
OLD GEOGRAPHIES
"No Man's Land." Patagonia has long been known as
one of the remote regions of the world, and until a few
score years ago it was practically an unknown land. On
the maps of the older geographies it was named "No
Man's Land," for it was the property of neither Chile
nor the Argentine and at that time neither cared much
for it. It was a land of barren plains and heavy storms,
without any white settlers. Of late years the region has
become better known through explorations made by
scientific men and the gradual occupation of the coast
by Europeans who have come to the Argentine to engage
in the grazing industry. There are still great areas in
which one may travel for weeks without meeting a human
being, not even an Indian, though even in the remote
places men have made explorations and have given us
very good descriptions of the extent of the land, the na
ture of its resources, arid the character of its scenery.
The Meaning of the Word "Patagonia." When the
Spaniards first visited the mainland of Patagonia they
saw on the beach sands the huge footprints of Indians.
The discovery was made at a time when men were not
only finding new wonders every day, but were ready to
invent and believe the strangest tales ; and, since they had
never before seen human footprints so large as these,
they at once thought that they were in a land of giants.
So they called the land "Patagonia," which means "big
feet ' ' (patacon = big feet) . The people whose footprints had
excited the wonder of the Spaniards were the Tehuelches,
a tribe^ of kindly Indians who live on the wide, cold

22 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
plains of southern Patagonia. While they are not
really giants, as the early explorers described them, they
are, nevertheless, unusually large (Fig. 7). The average
height of the men is about five feet eleven inches, and
their average weight about one hundred and seventy-
five pounds. The average height of the women is five
feet seven inches ; their weight is about the same as that
of the men. By comparison it may be interesting to
note that the average height of the white man is five
feet eight inches, and of the white woman, five feet
four inches.
The Tehuelche Indians. Although the Tehuelches are
an uncivilized tribe they are very friendly to the stranger \
who travels among them. Their faces are frank, their
tents of skin and their food are at the traveler's disposal,
and their kindly manner and gentle disposition at once
put the stranger at his ease. Many of the whites who have
visited them have not, however, treated them fairly.
White men's diseases have gained a foothold among these
children of- nature, and from a large tribe of perhaps
five thousand they have been reduced to about five hun
dred. Their strong muscular bodies are able to with-H
stand the cold Wind- and the snow of their bleak land, but
the new diseases, especially tuberculosis, produce terrible
effects among them. It will be only a matter of a few
years until the Tehuelche Indians, one of the best tribes •;
in Arnerica, will cease to exist.
Hunting the Ostrich and the Guanaco. The Tehuelche
Indians are a hunting tribe and depend for their food
supply aliriost entirely on two animals of the Patagonian:
plains, the rhed, or South American ostrich, and the ;
guanaco. These they hunt, not with firearms, as white
men do, but with bolas, made of two or three small
round stones, or large heavy balls covered with skin

Fig. 7. Tehuelche woman
23

24 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
and fastened together by strings of braided or twisted
rawhide. Holding one of the stones in his right hand,
the Tehuelche hunter rides after the game at a gallop
until he is within striking distance. The bola is thrown
in such a way that the whirling balls carry the strings
round and round the legs, neck, or body of the animal,
; entangling and tripping it, whereupon the hunter dis
mounts and kills it. The rhea has such small wings
that it is unable to fly and must therefore depend upon
its legs for escape. Even flying birds may be caught if
the hunter is able to steal upon a flock close enough to
throw the bola among them as they rise, and entangkjj
their legs or wings. ,"'
The Tehuelche hunter did not always depend upon the
bola. .Before the coming of the Spaniard, he hunted
chiefly with bow and arrow and was obliged to steal
close to the game to bring it down. As soon as the
horse was introduced the bow and arrow practically dis
appeared. The horse also helped the Tehuelches in war
against the Pampa Indians', who lived on the plains north
of the Rio Negro. When they depended upon their legs
for Safety their camps had to be made in the bottoms
of deep canons or hidden away among the rocks on the
side of a valley, where their fierce northern neighbors
could not find them. As soon as they learned the use of
the horse they were able to camp almost where they chose,
for if an enemy came they could take to flight and have
a fair chance of escape. To-day one may find the old
camping grounds of the Tehuelches in many places along
the stream valleys. The ground is covered with broken
pottery, and pieces of the bones of the guanaco, rhea, fishes,
and birds, besides arrowheads in great numbers.
The Harvest Time of the Tehuelches. The busiest
time of year for the Tehuelche Indians is the guanaco

PATAGONIA, THE "NO MAN'S LAND"

25

chico or "little guanaco" season. Then he gathers for
clothing not the skin of the ordinary guanaco, killed for

Fig. 8. Tehuelche squaw painting a guanaco skin
its meat, but the skin of the very young. The little
guanaco season extends from November 15 to February 1.
After a camp, site has been selected in some region where
the guanaco come in great numbers to feed and drink,
the men begin to hunt the young and none is killed that
is older than two months. The very best bedding and
clothing is made from the skins of guanaco that have just
been born. The men do the killing and skinning while the
women dry and cure the skins and make them into gar-
¦ ments. The different skins are sewed together so nicely
that it is difficult to tell where one begins and the other
ends. Sometiiries very pretty effects are made by com
bining certain natural colors in the skins of the animals.
Frequently the completed garment is decorated with
paint to give it a more striking appearance (Fig. 8).
In September and October the Tehuelches gather the
eggs of the rhea. These are laid in holes scooped out of

26 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
the ground, perhaps forty or fifty in a single spot — due
to the peculiar habits of the females, several of which
use the same nest.
A Tehuelche Home. The home of the American boy or
girl is made of wood or brick or stone,,or more rarely of sod

Fig. 9. A typical "toldo" or tent, home of a Tehuelche family '¦
or adobe, but the horrie of the Tehuelche child is madex
of the skin of the guanaco. The Patagonian plains have
almost no timber, and in place of it the Indians must
use the skins of animals. The Tehuelche tent, or toldo.
as it is called in Patagonia, is made of a number of skins
sewed together and fitted over a framework of poles
(Fig. 9). Because of the, prevailing westerly winds, the
front of the tent is always placed so as to face the east.
Stakes are then placed at the opening and to them is
attached an apron about four feet in height so that
when the wind blows from the east, as it does once in a
while, it may not blow into the tents. Sleeping places
are arranged in the rear, each place being made large

PATAGONIA, THE "NO MAN'S LAND" 27
enough for two people. Adjacent bunks are separated
from each other by a skin partition. Rugs are spread
on the ground, and these are covered with bedding which
consists of the soft skins of the very young guanaco.
The toldo serves the Tehuelche much better than a
wooden house because, if he wishes to move to a new
hunting ground or flee from an enemy, he can with little
trouble pack up the skins, carry them to a new site, and
quickly set them up again. In this rude home the Te
huelche has a certain amount of comfort and altogether
he is fairly well off, for he is physically well made, has
abundant game, and is relatively free from trouble with
his neighbors.
The Surface of Patagonia. Patagonia extends from
the Rio Negro (Plate IV) southward about one thousand
miles to the Strait of Magellan; and from the Atlantic
tc the Pacific it- is from •'two';]hundred to four hundred
miles, wide. The part that lies in Chile is made up
chiefly of mountains whose1 lower slopes are covered
with forests, and whose rocky and treeless upper slopes
are partly covered with snow and ice. Among these
mountains are a number of fertile valleys, and toward
the north and east some of these are occupied by settlers,
but by far the greater number of the people in the region
live in Argentine Patagonia, where treeless, grassy plains
and a less severe climate make grazing possible. Pata
gonia is so vast that one cannot describe the country as
a whole in a general way but must divide it into natural
regions, each of which has rather uniform topography
and climate. Along the eastern coast there is a narrow
strip of land about twenty" to fifty miles in width marked
by wave-cut terraces of great size. In the general uplift
of the land there were intervals when the land remained
at a given level long enough for the waves to plane

28 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
off a coastal platform. The process, repeated several
times, at length gave rise to a series of platforms each
with a flat top and a rather abrupt face. Uplift later
on made terraces out of the platforms.
The Herdsmen of the Coast. In the best places
along the coast one finds settlements such as Gallegos
(Fig. 10), Port Desire, Port San Julian, and Santa Cruz.
The people who live in these out-of-the-way places are
Scotchmen, Englishmen, Welshmen, and a few Germans
and Italians. They have come from their crowded home

Fig. io. Rio Gallegos, Patagonia, at low tide
countries to a new continent where land is free, and
although they are in a remote corner of the world and
live in rough homes, they at least have plenty to eat
and to wear. Nor is the new home entirely different
from the old one, for the people who come to Patagonia
are for the most part herdsmen. To the Scotsman espe
cially the new home is quite like the old, with its frequent
storms, its dull, leaden skies, its low temperature, and
its extensive sheep pastures.
The Shingle Plain of Patagonia. West of the coastal
strip of land where most of the herders live, one finds an
upland region of little value to man. The rainfall,!
insufficient for the best growth of grass, sinks rapidly

PATAGONIA, THE "NO MAN'S LAND" 29
into the earth and in places leaves the surface dry and
barren. In the southern part of Patagonia is a region
covered with coarse gravel and small stones that go by
the name of shingle. This material was laid down by
icebergs when the land stood lower than now and while
local ice sheets covered the mountains to the west. As
the icebergs drifted seaward over what is now the shingle
plain, they were gradually melted and their load of sand
and gravel was dropped to the sea floor, — the surface
that was later to become the land of to-day. The
process was not unlike that off Newfoundland and still
farther south where icebergs from Greenland finally
melt and drop their load of waste on the continental
shelf which they have helped to make. A part of the
material was washed into place by streams that descended
from the mountains after the land rose above the sea.
Besides the shingle plain there is in the Argentine
provinces of Santa Cruz and Chubut a great tract of
barren plateau country. Molten rock from the earth's
interior was here forced out through fissures in the earth's
crust to form a thick surface layer of rock known as
basalt. So recently was this plateau formed that the
rock has not yet decayed to form soil; hence grasses and
shrubs are almost wholly lacking. The rivers that flow
through the basalt plateau have cut deep canons that are
very difficult to cross. The guanaco and the vizcacha,
a kind of prairie dog, live along the canon floors, where
a little vegetation may be found. At irregular intervals
Indian bands wander through the region, but it is too
wild to attract settlers in large numbers.
The Belt of Pastures at the Foot of the Andes. Along
the eastern foot of the Patagonian Andes is a narrow
belt of gravels and sands largely the deposits of former
glaciers and the rivers that they fed. The loose material

30 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
is drained by clear mountain streams, and upon the valley
floors there is rich pasture. North of Punta Arenas, as
well as near Lake Nahuel Huapi, the pastures are used
to a growing extent (Fig. n), but in the long stretch
between, most of the land is idle because it is too remote
from the sea and the railway. Wool and hides cannot
be profitably carried over the great distances to the ports.
Until railways afford an outlet to the eastern coast of .
Patagonia men will not be tempted to make their homes
there, since they would be outside the currents of trade j
and obliged to live a rough life, depending entirely upon
the country for everything they would need to eat and
wear. When railways are finally built the region will-
develop, but until then it will be one of the idle lands
of the earth.
The most common inhabitant of the region to-day is
the tucotuco, a little animal that burrows in the ground
like a mole and eats the tender roots of the grasses.
Many kinds of birds are found on the great lakes that
lie along the mountain front, and the fleet guanaco roams
the grassy valleys, almost undisturbed by man.
The Lonely Settlements of Western Patagonia. About
the headwaters of the Chubut and the Negro rivers in
northern Patagonia is a line of settlements of special
interest. They have been formed of Chilean and Argen
tine pioneers who have discovered in these good pas
tures an easy means of livelihood. The cattle are
driven into Chile and also to the ends of railways that
extend into northern Patagonia. For example, cattle
from Lelejo, far south of Nahuel Huapi, are driven to
Neuquen, whence they go by rail to the coast. Although
the distance into Chile is shorter it involves crossing the
Andes Mountains by way of passes covered with snow a
part of the year. Difficult as these conditions appear,

PATAGONIA, THE "NO MAN'S LAND"

3i

the venture has proved profitable enough to continue to
attract an increasing number of new settlers. It is a

0iwzi
#** v3|
A
>#j ../m-
":%d
™
WaSm
^^^9Bl
HNHHl BHffl
JW-w^i
iifefeiL"'"
-":.
Courtesy of the Pan-American Union
Fig,- 11. Lake Nahuel Huapi, Argentine Republic, This is the
westernmost extremity of the lake. Here the real pass across
the Cordillera begins and the boundary between the two re
publics is only eight miles distant
novel sight in the headwater portions of these valleys to
come suddenly upon isolated settlements where tufted
grasses support flourishing herds. One settler near
Los Repollos, at the head of the Nuevo valley, raises
horses and sheep as well as cattle and sells his cattle to
traders who come into the valley from Chile. Lonely
puestos, of shepherds' huts, may be seen in the most
remote corners and are a sign that the land has been well
spied out by the herders, those pioneers of settlements.
The Welsh Settlers and the Valley of the 16th of
October. The most interesting settlement among these
remote people is the group of two or three hundred that
lives in the Valley of the 16th of October (Plate IV). It
should - be explained first that streets, towns, and even
32 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
river valleys in Spanish America are sometimes named after
important historical dates, and that this curious name
has been applied to the valley because it marks the day
the settlers reached it. Here in a lovely valley of great
fertility is a colony of settlers from Wales. All about
are grassy hills which slope gently to the green flats of
the valley floor. Cattle and sheep are produced, but the
great distance from market is a serious drawback to the
further development of grazing. For a time cattle had
to be driven some five hundred miles north of Lake
Nahuel Huapi before they found a convenient pass across
the Andes to the Chilean towns. Direct connection with
the outside world is by way of the Chubut valley to the
Atlantic, where lives the larger parent colony of Welsh set
tlers from which those in the Valley of the 16th of October
came; and in later years communication has been estab
lished across the mountains south of Nahuel Huapi from
Junin de los Andes and San Martin de los Andes into
Chile (Plate IV).
The way in which these Welsh folk of the Chubut
valley came to South America is full of geographic interest.
About i860 some of the mechanics and small farmers of
Wales became discontented and restless under the rule of
England and desired a home in some other land where
they could preserve all their old national customs and
language, worship according to their own notions, and
be entirely free from taxation. This idea of absolute
freedom was born of the liberty the Welsh had enjoyed
for centuries in the forests and rough mountains of Wales
before their conquest by the English. Their mountain
home had bred in them a strong love of independence and,
in looking about for a new home where they could be as
free as they once had been in the old days, they selected
"No Man's Land," or Patagonia, where the Argentine

PATAGONIA, THE "NO MAN'S LAND" 33
government in 1862 granted to each family about one
square mile of land.
But when the first settlers arrived they were greatly
disappointed, for the country appeared wild and barren,
the climate was more severe than that of Wales, there
were no trees, and the soil gave little promise of good crops.
In other places in the Argentine there was better land,
but the settlers had no money to buy it, and they would
rather live in a wilderness than in a land of plenty and have
troublesome neighbors. So they crowded into the narrow
Chubut valley, built irrigation canals, and after terrible
hardships, of which the world still knows but little, suc
ceeded in raising enough wheat for home needs and even
for export. Chubut wheat was once famous throughout
the Argentine, but the acreage is' too small to make the
product important. The chief products of to-day are
wool and alfalfa.
In 1 88 1, or about the time that the Welsh settlers
began to feel established, "No Man's Land" came into
the definite possession of the Argentine and was no longer
a neglected territory. Up to that time the Welsh had
been relatively free from taxation and had managed their
own affairs. Since then Argentine officials have interfered
with the once quiet life of the settlers. Military service
in the - National Guard is required, Spanish must be
taught in the schools, and taxes regularly paid. The
religious Welsh find military service especially distasteful
since the regimental parades are held on Sunday.
Finally, as the people Steadily increased in numbers,
the valley became overcrowded. Instead of farms a few
thousand acres in extent, each family had only a few
hundred acres. The Chubut valley became like a hive
Overstocked w^h bees. It seemed better for a part of
the colony to move out and give the others more room, so

34 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
in 1895 a small group moved westward and settled in
the "Valley of the 16th of October."
Added to these sources of discontent were the floods
which visited the valley in 1899 and again in 1902. At
first the great difficulty had been the want of water, not
the abundance of it, and when floods came the poor
irrigation works were broken down and the valley Was
covered with water.
Other Welsh settlements have been made near the
coast, as at Porto Madryn, Rawson, and Trelew, and with
the growth in railways and irrigation works the colonists
will become more attached to their new home (Plate IV).
Railways in Patagonia. The Argentine government is
now building railways into the more valuable portions of
Patagonia, and when these are completed the settlers who
have already built homes in the region will be much
better off and new settlements will probably be made in
large numbers. The railway from the mouth of the
Negro valley has been extended westward almost to
the mountains, about three hundred miles, and it will
soon reach the Lake Nahuel Huapi district, rich in
resources of soil, water, and climate. Thence the line
will extend irito Chile by way of the Cajon Negro Pass
and branch lines will be. built northward to San Martin
and Junin de los Andes and southward along the base
of the mountains to the flourishing colony of Welsh
settlers in the Valley of the 16th of October. These
important lines will supply an outlet for rich pastures
and still richer farms where the grains and fruits of the
temperate zone will be .produced in large quantities.
Moreover, shorter railways will soon be built from various
other points on the east coast westward into the better
portions of the country, where settlers may find permanent
homes.

Copyright 191-i, bj Rnud McXiilly & Co.
Southern South America

CHAPTER IV
THE ARGENTINE
A Big Country with Few People. Next to Brazil, the
Argentine is the. largest country of South America and
has the largest number Of people. But even this rank
means less than one might suppose. There are only a
little over seven million people in the Argentine, or less
than twice as many as live in New York City alone.
The population of New England is twice as large as
that of the Argentine, and that of Belgium is almost the
same. Yet the Argentine is more than half as large
as the United States and nearly half as large as Europe.
¦ In thinking about the Argentine it will be worth while to
remember that a country may have a great deal of land
and yet contain very few people. When the United
States gained its independence there were about three
million people in it, or about as many as live in Bolivia
to-day and about half as many as now live in New
York City. We had a great deal of land at that time,
but much of it was uninhabited. ' The Argentine is in that
condition to-day; if its more than a million square miles
of territory were divided equally among all the people
each person would have a farm of about one hundred
acres. In the United States each inhabitant would have
about twenty-one acres, and in France and in England
about one acre.
We must not forget, however, that a country may be
small in population and yet have the resources for becom-
. ing larger in the near future. Though the Argentine has
but seven and a half million people there is good land
that will support millions more. 35 '

36 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

Large Spaces for Grazing. Vast^ tracts of_Argentine
territory are covered with grass and are therefore used

Courtesy of Rudolph Schcvill
Fig. 12. Corral at Guayamini, Argentine
for the raising of cattle, sheeR, horses, and mules. Even
if all thewater that now runs to waste in the rivers that
cross the drier plains of the Argentine were turned out
upon the land, large areas probably would still be left
without a water supply capable of supporting crops.
Upon such areas we shall always find the life of the ranch,
as on our western plains; their people will always be
herders and cowboys; their products will always be sheep,
cattle, horses, and mules (Fig. 12).
The number of people that can live on a square mile
of even good grazing land is very small. Here are no
large crowded cities like those we find in agricultural or
manufacturing regions. The population is spread out

THE ARGENTINE 3,7
over a large area; houses are few and far between; the
towns are little more than clusters of houses grouped
about a railroad station; wide expanses of land stretch
out in all directions with but the thinnest sprinkling of
human beings.
The Vast Pampas. By far the most, important region
of the Argentine is that known as the pampas, the flat
plains that occupy the greater part of the country. The
name "pampa" is of Indian origin and was in use when
the Spaniards first came to the Argentine. It is given
to any open level tract whether it is grass-covered or
desert, in a high situation or near sea level. In the
Argentine, however, the name is applied to the plains
that occupy the central .portion of the country. More
precisely, the region of the_pampas stretches from _the
Salado River on the north to the Negro on_the south arid
frorn_near the base of the Andes Mountains On jthe west
to the Parana and Paraguay rivers on the east. So great
a tract has~many small differences in relief , rainfall, vege
tation, and products, but there are also some general
features common to the whole region.
Quite the first thing that strikes the traveler through
the pampas_is their exceeding_flatness (Fig. 13), For
long distances the eye can distinguish no differences of
level; the surface appears to be like the world of the
ancients, — a vast plain stretching out to the great world
river that encircled the earth. As a matter of fact the
pampas are not quite flat. They consist in large part of
shallow basins with floors partly covered with salt or
sand or lakes of variable depth and extent. For the
most part the water of the tributary streams is lost in
the sand or evaporated from the surfaces of lakes.
Counting large and small, the basins number many
hundreds and have important effects on the drainage

38 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER'

and the life of the pampas though they are too shallow
to be a prominent or indeed in places even a visible
feature of the relief.
The pampas also slope
toward the east, a
feature due to the way
in which they were
formed. They are
built of alluvial mat
ter, — sand, gravel,
and silt carried down
from the Andes by
the eastward flowing
streams. In small part
also they are com
posed of marine de
posits formed- on the
bed of the ocean when
part of what is now

Courtesy of Rudolph Schevill
Fig. 13. Plowing on the Argentine pam
pas. Cochico ranch, near Guayamini,
A rgentine. The tufted grass is called
"pampa grass" and on it feed the
great herds of cattle and the
wild guanaco

land was under the sea. The vast expanses of the pam
pas are interrupted by a few small mountain ranges.
They but serve to emphasize the flatness of the plains
around them and are important as the source of streams
used for irrigation.
The monotony of the outlook over the central plains
is one of the qualities of Argentine scenery never for
gotten. A vast expanse of plain stretching away to a
flat horizon is the most common sight during a journey
across them. Little clumps of eucalyptus trees here
and there dot the plain, small clumps grow about the
huts' of the shepherds, and border the avenues near the
houses ' of the estancieros or ranchmen. The head
quarters of an estate is marked by a windmill, an almost
universal sign of the pampas. Sometimes the monotony

THE ARGENTINE 39
of the view is broken by the brown of a freshly plowed
field, or the tasseled green of corn, or a lagoon or swamp
bordered by a belt of salt-covered plain and dotted with
Water fowl that make their home in great numbers on
its reedy shores. Once in a while a South American
ostrich, or rhea, may be seen stalking along or feeding
with a flock of sheep. These and countless herds of cat
tle are the chief living features of the extensive pampas
of the Argentine.
A Country where Everybody Rides Horseback. It has
been said that the people of the Argentine rest on two
feet and travel on four. The remark' helps us to under
stand how very common is horseback riding in this
country of flat plains where even the distances from house
to house are too great to traverse on foot. Everybody
rides, and even very young boys learn to ride the swiftest
horses.. The managers of the large ranches visit and
their men round up their herds and flocks on horseback
(Fig. 14); children ride when they visit their playmates
at a neighboring ranch house; and the hunter must
ride because the game animals. of the flat plains can see
for long distances arid are very fleet.
Mirage and Cloud Scenery of the Pampas. Like the
prairies and the western plains of our own country the
pampas of the Argentine are a constant' source of interest
to the traveler who sees them for the first time. Their
vast expanses are sublime; in the wind and the darkness
they, awaken in the lonely traveler a feeling of terror;
the limitless wilderness of grass and flowers, with its
scattered people and its unbroken expanses, is a marvel
of plains scenery, with extraordinary changes in color
from morning to night. Upon the hot pampas at midday
the mirage sometimes produces magical effects. "A
patch of plain becomes a lake, a distant' thistle field a

40 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

forest of tall timber, a dreary marsh a troop of phantom
horsemen." (Keane.)
The cloud effects are the most marvelous of all the
pampa sights. When a thunderstorm comes up, the
great bulky clouds are not hidden or half-hidden by
surrounding hills as in a rough country; 'the whole cloud
mass is clearly visible moving over the pampa miles
away; all the awe of the thunder and the lightning is
clear to the senses. Of more delicate beauty are the
cloud effects in fair weather. Huge masses of cumulus
clouds float majestically through the air, their fleecy
white thrown in sharp contrast against the deep blue
of the sky. At sunset the pampas are transformed no

• Courtesy of the Pan-American Union

Fig. 14. Argentine cowboy

THE ARGENTINE 41
less wonderfully than at sunrise. In the softening light,
clouds and waving grasses are brought out more distinctly
and the west is tinged with delicate tints or bathed in
the most extravagant colors.
The Grasses of the Pampas. The vast central region
of the pampas is peculiar in having a grass-Cover of nearly
uniform quality "and of few species. A common sort is
thatTaiown as~pampa grass, which is found in the wetter
places, as about the shores of fresh-water lakes or along
the valley floors where water is abundant. In the drier
portions of the pampas both coarse and fine grasses grow
in tussocks separated by a few feet or inches of bare
ground or by inferior varieties of grasses and flowers and
a few slender herbs and low shrubs. The soft grasses are
excellent for sheep ; the coarse grasses are the food of the
great herds of cattle for which the oampas are noted
(Fig- 13)-
The Strong Pampa Winds. For several hundreds of
miles there are. no important interruptions to the move
ments of the air and, once the wind begins, it blows with
almost the same freedom as at sea. The south winds,
or the so-called antarctic gales, are particularly violent.
And from the north comes the zondal blowing with
great strength at intervals during the winter months (July
and August). Perhaps the most violent winds of all
are the dreaded and boisterous pamperos, which blow
from the southwest. For days the temperature will rise
with the continuance of the north wind until the air
becomes almost suffocatingly hot. Suddenly the wind x
changes, the southwest pampero begins to blow, thunder
and lightning, a gloomy sky, and abundant rain accom
pany it, and in almost an instant the hot air is swept
away before a bracing gale that leaves one shivering where
before there was almost tropic heat. If long continued,

42 • SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
the pamperos do great damage to the cultivated fields
of corn. Along the seacoast in the vicinity of Buenos
Aires the winds from the sea blow during the southern
summer with great strength, often becoming gales that
strew the coast with wreckage and blow back the waters
of the Rio de la Plata to such an extent as to flood the
country far inland.
Where Farmers Take Chances with the Rain. Of
most serious consequences to man are the droughts for
which the dry western plains are well known. They
sometimes burn up the grasses and wither the shrubs,
dry up the lakes and streams, and turn what was before
a profitable range into a land that is half desert.
We shall be able to understand these droughts by
first noting the way in which the pampa rainfall is
distributed. Plate I shows a gradual increase in the
rainfall from west to east, with a maximum in the eastern
most provinces of the republic. In the west it is too
dry for agriculture without irrigation and man does not
depend directly upon rain for the growing of grains and
vegetables. ' The farther east one goes the better become
one's chances of raising crops without irrigation, and
in the province of Buenos Aires farming on a large scale
is carried on without the artificial use of water. The
rainfall is reliable, large crops are produced every year,
and the farmers are prosperous (Fig. 15). But every few
years the edge of the dry belt moves farther east than
usual and brings losses to the farmers of that region.
In these respects then the dry border of the pampas
of the Argentine reminds us of the plains of western Kan
sas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, where droughts sometimes
ruin the crops and spread discontent among the farmers.
These are the risky places of the earth, where man must
take chances with the rain.

THE ARGENTINE

43

The Prairie Dog of the Pampas. Late one afternoon a
number of horsemen were riding across a sandy pampa
toward their camp
beside a spring.
One was a stran
ger, who rode a
strong beast that
galloped far ahead
of. the rest. Sud
denly his horse
stumbled and fell
over and over,
throwing the rider
at least twenty
feet. When he
hurried back to his
beast he found
both its forelegs
broken, and to
end its sufferings he was obliged to shoot it. Then,
lame from his fall, the stranger walked into camp,
where he arrived long after dark. He would have
been lost had not the others built a great brush fire
as a signal.
The cause of all this trouble was a small hole made by
a pampa animal called the vizcacha, which is in some
respects like our prairie dog. He lives in dark chambers in
the loose soil and is on friendly terms with the burrowirig
owl and other night birds in their underground homes.
He may be seen far up in the mountains and plateaus of
Bolivia and Chile, where his shrill chattering relieves the
mountain stillness, but his true home and the place that
he likes the best is the pampa country of the central Ar
gentine. Upon the grassy plains he finds his choicest food

Courtesy of W, D. Boyce
Fig. 15. An alfalfa stacker at work on
an A rgentine ranch

44 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
— tender, sweet roots and stems of grasses and herbs.
In some places a colony of vizcachas will clear away the
grass about the burrows and make an open space where
they may play in the sun for hours. When an enemy
approaches, warning is given, and all the members of
the colony scurry to their deep-chambered holes. In
some places the .ground is so full of vizcacha holes that
a horse, is scarcely able to walk, and galloping is quite
impossible. The ranchmen despise this little beast, since
it not only causes the loss of cattle and horses but also
kills the grasses by gnawing off the roots. These, like
the other pests which now prevail, will largely disappear
with the coming of the permanent settler.
Birds and Insects of the Pampas. Waterfowl of
many kinds and in vast numbers are found upon the
plains, where they congregate about the borders of
lagoons. Here are the black-necked swan and the
flamingo, wild duck of many sorts, sandpipers, ibises,
herons, cranes, and spoonbills. The ornithologist finds
here an extraordinary field for the study of the habits,
colors, and shapes of the pampa birds. On page 24 is a
description of the hunting of the rhea, or South American
ostrich, found in great numbers in the Argentine.
It might seem as if those tiny inhabitants of the plains
— the ticks, flies, andmosquitos — might go unmentioned,
for they are far from interesting things to talk about,
but when we learn that there are whole districts where
man does not find life endurable because of their presence
they rise to the dignity of a great natural force. "They
are nature's miserable castaways, parasitical tribes lost
in a great dry wilderness where no blood is; and every
marsh-born mosquito, piping of the hunger gnawing
its vitals, and every forest tick, blindly feeling with its
grappling-irons for the beast that never brushes by,-

THE ARGENTINE 45
seems to tell us of a world peopled with gigantic forms,
. . . which once afforded abundant pasture to the
parasite, and which the parasite perhaps assisted to
overthrow. ' ' (Hudson.) The ' ' gigantic forms ' ' are those
mammals and reptiles of huge size that once roamed
these plains, whose bones are now found deeply buried
by the age-long accumulations of sand and mud out of
which the pampas are built.
Hudson has well described the dragon-fly storms that
come just in advance of %he pampero, that strong south-
west wind of which we have already read. Because they
are associated with the pampero the dragon flies are
called "children of the pampa wind." They fly close to
the surface and in such clouds that the air for ten or twelve
feet above the earth seems full of them. They rush by
with great speed and seek the shelter of groves and
forests, where they cling to the trees until the wind dies
down. Unlike the locusts (which swarm in like numbers),
they do not eat the vegetation but fall upon the ticks
and sand flies, "causing them to vanish like smoke."
How the Pampas Affect Animals. Out upon the flat
stretches of the pampas there originally roamed two ani
mals of exceptional interest, the guanaco and the vicuna,
cousins of the llama and alpaca. To-day the vicuna is
found almost wholly in the mountains, but the guanaco
still roams the plains, especially in Patagonia. These
wary animals are exceedingly fleet and are hunted with
great difficulty. Like the wapiti of our western plains,
the guanaco has been obliged to develop speed, for the
open plains do not enable it to find ready hiding places.
This development of speed is no less a response of the
animal to the open character of the plains than is the
burrowing instinct of the vizcacha which enables it to
hide quickly from an enemy.

46 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

Even those animals that have been brought to the
pampas from Europe have undergone changes in response
to the nature of the
climate and the vege
tation of the pampas.
Thus there has been
developed a pampa
breed of sheep hav
ing tall, gaunt, bony
frames, lean, dry flesh,
and long, straight wool
like goat's hair. These
qualities are far differ- '
erit from those desired, ;
and if the animal by
acquiring them has
become better able to
live happily upon the
pampas he has by just
this x amount become less suited to man as a source of
food and clothing. To keep their stock improved the
breeders of the Argentine must constantly bring in new
blood from other countries. Some of the' animals intra*
duced by man have run wild, such as the dog and the
horse; the wild horse, at one time found in 'great bands,
has now all but disappeared.
The Gauchos. Like our cowboys of the plains the
gauchos of the Argentine live almost entirely on horse
back, a free, rough life full of hardship. The imagination
of many people who have read about the gaucho a little,
and seen him not at all, has played with his qualities and
made him a far more courteous and chivalrous hero than
he really is. For one must know that not always has
the, gaucho been free from robbery, and his notions of

Courtesy of Rudolph Schevill
Fig. 16. Canvas tent on the Cochico ranch,
A rgentine. The tent is folded up and
carried >from place to place by
' the herders who drive the cattle
from one pasture ground
to the other

THE ARGENTINE

47

ownership of cattle have been based largely on the law
of might makes right:
The gaucho lives in a simple hut or in a tent and de
spises the life of the town; he is accustomed to the saddle
from childhood and cares more for the ornaments of
silver in the reins of his bridle and for the trappings of
his saddle than for the finest house. His eyesight is as
keen as that of an Indian; a cloud of dust, the flight of
birds, the lie of the grass, are to him signs of man or of an
approaching storm; to him the print of a horse's hoof
is a subject demanding study, since it may show clearly
who has passed by. As a type the gaucho is most inter
esting, but his day has passed with the passing of much
of the free range, and like the cowboy of our western
plains he will soon disappear entirely. In his place
comes the permanent settler who owns the land on which
he lives, cultivates the ground for a living, and herds
cattle as well (Figs. 16, 17, 18, and 19).
The Pampa Indians.
The Indians who once
roamed over the pam
pas have almost disap
peared from the central
Argentine. When the
Spaniards came they
found several different
tribes living about the
borders of the Rio de
la Plata and the grass
lands to the west and
southwest, and so
strorig were they that
for a long time
they prevented the

Courtesy of Rudolph Schevill
Fig. 17. Temporary shelter made of
corrugated sheet iron. It is called a
"puesto," and when the cattle must be
driven to a new and fresh feeding
place the sheet iron is quickly
taken down and easily set up
at the next stopping place.
Ccchico ranch, Argentine

48 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
whites from settling the interior. They were known as
Pampa Indians, and were very securely established
on the south side of the estuary of the Plata. For
over two centuries they carried on marauding expedi
tions against the outlying ranches from Bahia Blanca
to C6rdoba. They plundered and even killed the settlers,
stealing thousands of cattle which they sold in large
part in the Chilean towns west of the mountains. A
number of military expeditions were sent out to punish and
subdue them, but without success. At last, in 1879,
General Roca led a campaign against them which ended
in the extermination of whole tribes and in the driving of
others into the remote districts of northern Patagonia.
Since that time settlements have been made in many
places within the territory that the Indians once controlled,
and there is no longer any danger from them.
The Argentine as One of the World's Granaries. The
importance and prosperity of a country may be judged
to some extent by the kind and amount of goods shipped
out of it. One can scarcely think of Chile without
thinking of nitrate of soda, of Brazil without thinking of
rubber and coffee, or of the Argentine without thinking
of cattle and wheat. The Argentine is one of the impor
tant wheat-exporting countries of the world, and in this
respect may be classed with Russia, the United States, .
and India, which are often "spoken of as the granaries of
the world on account of the breadstuffs they export to
the numerous manufacturing peoples of Europe who
cannot raise enough for their own use. About one ton of
wheat is raised in the Argentine for every man, woman,
and chikTin the republic. Besides wheat the Argentine
exports great~quaritities of corn, linseed, and beef, all of
which are shipped to^Europe in rapidly increasing amounts.
A Country with Few Manufactures" The Argentine

THE ARGENTINE 49
is^ a Jand where raw materials are the chief products,
and where manufactured articles — the machinery foFthe

XourteV of (Rudolph ScheviU
Fig. :i8. Permanent shelter on an Argentine. raneh
-mines, the ^clothing,?, kriives, guns, and axes— rare chiefly
brought into the country from Europe or the United
Staiss. Manufactured goods are therefore expensive , and
any one going to the Argentine will be surprised at the
cost of such articles as shoes, linens, revolvers, ropes,
and the like.- He will find them costing from twenty to
fifty per cent more than at home. A sack of grain or a
cow or a mule, on the other .hand, may be bought for less
than the American would be obliged to pay at home-, for
these, produced in the country, need not be brought in ex
pensive steamers across thousands of miles of ocean before
being offered for sale in the markets of the Argentine.
It is surprising to one from America or England, where
most of the manufactured goods are made at home, to
find that nearly everything used in the Argentine comes
from abroad. If one ride on the railway it is more
than likely to be behind an American locomotive, and if

SO SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
one examine the manufacturer's marks on the window
catches of the coaches or on the car wheels he will find
them made either in the United States or in England.
The desks in the business offices, the shoes on the feet
of the city dweller, the hat he wears, the carriage in which
he rides, the telephone through which he speaks to his
neighbor, — all these have been made in France or Ger
many or the United States or England.
Cheap Land and Expensive Coal. One of the principal
reasons why_the people of the Argentine_have_had to

Courtesy of W. D. Boyce
Fig. 19. Croppers at work in one of the great wheat fields of
Ihe Argentine Republic
buy their goods abroad is -that there is little coal in the
country and in those places where most of the people live
the streams have no falls-to_belisedLior generating power.
Without means for running- the machinery which mills
and factories require, the. people have had to buy their
goods from those countries where manufacturing has
developed because of a dense population, knowledge of
inventions, and a large fuel supply. In the Argentine'
there are not enough men to do even the unskilled work
waiting to be done. Land has in the past been so cheap
that the poorest newcomer could find a farm if he only
looked far enough, or he could easily find work on the
farm of some one who had come before him. Wheat

THE ARGENTINE Si
and cattle could be raised so cheaply that it Was easier
to farm or. to engage in ranching than to start a manu
facturing plant, which requires skilled labor and a cer
tain amount of capital. Even if the clothing and the
tools brought from other countries were expensive, the
farmer could buy them if only the wheat and the cattle
with which these were bought could be raised, cheaply
enough. One of the Great Cattle Countries. A few years ago,
before frozen meats were shipped across the ocean, the
people of Europe needed more meat; the people of the
Argentine had more than they could use. In one place
meat was expensive; in the other it was going to waste.
Before the frozen-meat trade began, cattle were some
times of more value for their hides or for the tallow that
could be obtained from their carcasses than for the meat
they might yield, and tallow and hides were therefore
the chief exports from the ranches. The experiment , of
freezing mutton and beef and shipping it in this condition
to ^European ports was tried with such success that
to-day meat in enormous quantities is shipped in this
manner. The first meat-freezing implant in_J;he__Argentine was
established in 1883 on the Rio de la Plata. In 1884
and 1886 two other plants were opened. In 1883 only
seventeen thousand frozen sheep carcasses were , shipped
out of the cQUntry, but by 190 1 the total had risen to
nearly three million sheep and one hundred and twenty
thousand cattle. In 1902 two new companies were
started and in the same year a new company began
operations with chilled meats. By 1901 the Argentine
was Supplying nearly sixty per cent of the meat imports
into Great Britain, while Australia was second on the list
with twenty-one per cent of the imports and New Zealand

52 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
third with nineteen per cent. Attention is also being
paid to dairying, so that to the meat trade we must add
an important though local trade in butter, milk, and
cream. The attention of the people of the Argentine to the
grazing industry may also be shown by the fact that the
country contains about seventy million head_of_sheep,
or about nine head for every man, woman, and child in
the republic; about^ seye^ijnilHon_five_hundred thousand
head of horses, and nearly thrityjmilliorj_jiead_of cattle.
What these figures mean may be judged from the con
ditions in other countries. Auslraliai_s_the_only country
in the world ^hat contains more sheep than the Argentine.
Russia and the United~SEates su^ass~the Argentine in
the numBeFof horses; and these two countries _and India
likewise exceeoTthe l^geritirie~iri~the number of cattle.
By contrast, the Argentine has only seven and a half

Fig. 20. Straight railway track on the flat plains or pampas of the
Argentine. Railways may be cheaply built on these flat
plains. There are few cuts or fills, and no expensive bridges

THE ARGENTINE $3
milliqnjpeople, while the Russian Empire has a population
of onejiundred and forty million aud-the United States
has nearly a hundred million.
Railways of the Plains. Flat plains have the great
advantage of being easily crossed by railroads, for there
are no expensive bridges to build or costly rock-cuts
to make. If the plains are forested the trees must be
cut down, but if they are covered with grass a railway
may be very cheaply constructed across them. And if
there is enough rainfall to support great herds and flocks
and farms and plantations the railroad will have much
business and both it and the farmers and ranchmen it
serves will be benefited.
This condition, so near the ideal, is found in the Argen
tine. Railways run by the most direct routes from town
to town without the many curves, tunnels, and bridges
that are required in a mountainous country. There is
said to be one stretch of road in the Argentine that for two
hundred miles is without an important curve (Fig. 20).
No_other country in South America has so large and
serviceable a railroad system. From Buenos Aires, the
railroad~and^commerciaI heart of the country, railroads
branch out in all directions over the flat pampas and
reach far into the western interior, one line reaching
Santiago and Valparaiso, Chile.
Bullock Wagons. Before the day of the railroad, men
could settle out on the plains and carry on farming
only so far as goods could be sent by bullock wagons:
It was once no unusual sight to see long trains of slow-
moving wagons strung out on the great plains of the
western and central Argentine, riioving toward some
spot favorable for settlement. In each might be seen a
family of three or four, including children, and all the
household furniture, clothing, and food. At night a

54 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
stop was made beside a spring; the children would tumble
out and help gather brushwood; a roaring fire was built,
and around it every one sat, the boys piling on fuel, the
men mending the yokes, the women cooking the food.
It was hard travel, especially for the children, and some
times stops had to be made for the relief of the sick.
Other wagon trains carried goods from Buenos Aires to
the interior. For a long time such important interior
cities as Tucuman, Mendoza, and C6rdoba were supplied
in part by this "ship of the pampas." It was a most
laborious and costly way of conducting the business of
transportation, and the development of the country was
thereby delayed until the railroads came and made it
possible for settlements to be established anywhere.
Bullock carts are still used for the local movement of
goods from farm to railway or from farm to farm', but they
have nearly gone out of use for long-distance traffic.
Bullock carts are curious affairs, unlike anything that
we know in this country except perhaps the prairie
schooner with its covered roof and great wheels. They
are two-wheeled vehicles covered with a canopy of cloth
to protect the driver and his goods. The large size of
the wheels makes it much easier to cross streams and
deep ruts. The driver sits on the front of the cart and
drives his team with shouts and cries and by the generous
use of a whip. In the old-type wagon a pole goad was
suspended over the oxen. It was so nicely balanced that
with a touch of the hand it could be tilted downward,
whereupon the brads on the end of it pricked the oxen
and urged them forward (Fig. 105).
The Railway as a Pioneer. Once the advantages of
the railway became known it was not long before every
important town and province in the republic was linked
with the capital, and to-day there are about twenty

THE ARGENTINE 55
thousand miles of railways in the country. In many
cases the railway was built into new country before there
were people in it and before ordinary roads were built.
In this way it has often been the pioneer in the settlement
of remote districts and a means for the fullest and most
rapid development. Though there are great tracts that
are still not reached by railways, it must be remem
bered that cattle can be driven without much difficulty
for long distances through free range to the railway.
Thus a single railroad serves as a means of outlet for
a vast country by\enabling the cattle owners to find a
shipping point at the end of a drive~oTa hundred.' miles
or more. ~^~ " "^"—
For hundreds of miles the railway from Buenos Aires
to Mendoza runs over a flat pampa,, with waving grasses
or dusty plains stretching out on all sides. At last the
traveler approaches a green oasis in whose center lies
one of the oldest, most picturesque, and now one of the
most important cities of the interior of the Argentine,
with tree-lined irrigation canals, fertile gardens, and far-
famed vineyards.
Beyond Mendoza the railway has now been extended
across the Andes Mountains, and since 191 1 it has been
possible to ride from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso entirely
by rail.
The importance of this railway across the mountain
barrier that has so long stood between the Argentine and
Chile is very great indeed. It connects the shores of two
oceans, the capitals of two neighboring republics, furnishes
a means for the cheaper shipment of cattle from the
pampas of the Argentine to the mining districts of Chile,
and enables travelers and business men to make a short,
quick, and comfortable journey across the continent — it
is but thirty-eight hours from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso.

56 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
It must not be thought that every part of the Argen
tine has a railroad, for the whole of that vast region called

Fig. 21. A stream bed used as a road in northwestern Argentine.
Laborers are here removing the stones and bowlders from a
narrow trail, and this is all the improvement that is
required to turn the graded flood plain of
the river into a graded mountain road
Patagonia, in some parts of which railways are now being
built, was until recently without a single steel rail. There
are also vast tracts in the northwestern part of the repub
lic which have no other means of shipping goods from
place to place than those afforded for the past three or
four centuries — the mule and the burro (Figs. 21 and 22).
The Region of Mines. A long railway also runs
northwest to the mining districts of La Rioja, Catamarca,
and Chilecito in a section of the country more distant
still from Buenos Aires. Gold, silver, copper, iron, and
nickel are found here in abundance; one town, Villa
Argentina, "Silver Town," takes its name from its chief
product, silver. Some years ago all the ore from Chilecito

THE ARGENTINE 57
was sent on muleback to Chile across the deserts and
mountains. Later the ore was shipped eastward three
hundred miles in carts, and later still a railway was built
to the town. The railway now offers cheap means for
carrying freight; and the region possesses such rich ore
that it has already become the principal mining region of
the Argentine.
By no means all the people of the northwestern part
of the Argentine are engaged in mining* for those who work
in mines must be supplied with food. ,On the fertile
plains at the foot of the mountains irrigation works have
been built and the water of the mountain streams turned
out upon the land. Where* water is available the desert
of stones, sand, and cacti is completely and almost
magically transformed. Fruits of all kinds thrive, includ
ing peaches, figs, pears, and grapes; wheat, wine, and
oranges are also produced; here too is a profusion of
flowers, especially roses and lilies.
A Tramway of Rope. One of the interesting sights of
the mining region is the rope tramway that runs between
Chilecito and the mines at Upulungos in the Famatina
Mountains. - The difference in elevation between these
two places is eleven thousand feet, and the country is so
broken that it was found too expensive to build an ordi
nary railway. The rope road is twenty-one miles long
and carries ore down to Chilecito and supplies of food
and machinery up to the mines. There are nine stations
along the line of this curious tramway, and at each station
the ropes are anchored so that the strain may be divided.
The ore cars run on rollers suspended from the ropes,
and the weight of the loaded down-hill cars carries up the
lighter return cars, though steam engines at intervals
along the line also help the movement.
The rope is suspended from iron trellis girders from

58 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

ten to one hundred and forty feet high and the spans of
rope between girders are from three hundred to three

Fig. 22. Mules bearing packs of sheepskins from the mountains
of northwestern A rgentine into the valleys
thousand feet long. The grade of the line is very steep,
in places as high as thirty per cent. Most interesting
of all is the fact that at one place a tunnel has been
constructed as in an ordinary railway, a tunnel fully a
thousand feet long.
Watchmen ride the line to prevent theft, for some
times a thief selects a time when no one is near and with
a long pole tips over an ore bucket. On one occasion
when it was suspected that a thief was about to steal
ore a watchman curled himself up in a bucket and rode
down the line. Instead of rich ore the thief tipped out
a man, who lost no time in handing the thief over to the
soldier policemen camped at the mine.
A Coach Trip in the Argentine. To reach places at a
distance from the railroad one may ride muleback or
occupy a seat in a coach. A coach trip is very interesting
to one who has never before traveled in this way. The

THE ARGENTINE 59
coach is a huge covered wagon, very much like the old
coaches our grandfathers used to ride in before the days
of the railroad. It will carry from twelve to fourteen
people, who are crowded three in a seat. Early in the
morning, before it is yet light, the coach is prepared, the
baggage is strapped behind and on the roof, and eight
mules are hitched up in four pairs. The driver, grasping
the heavy reins, shouts at the top of his voice, stable
boys throw stones or clods at the mules and whip them
unmercifully, and away go the mules at a breakneck
speed. They gallop along mile after mile, sometimes
turning about the curves of a mountain road almost on
the edge of. a precipice,- to the shrieks of the women and
the consternation of the men.
By and by the coach arrives at the posthouse, where
a stop is made for breakfast and for a change of mules.
Four or five .stops like this are made each day; and, by
using between thirty and forty mules, fifty or sixty miles
may be covered between sunrise and sunset, even when
the country is roUgh and the roads crooked and steep,
while on the pampas the distance may be seventy or
eighty miles.
The Dry Basin Region. In northwestern Argentine is
the highest and coldest jpar^ofjjie country outside the
Patagonian Andes'.' Two great mountain chains here in
close aloftv plateau known as_the Puna de Atacama.
Volcanoes and lava flows cover a large part of it, and
between them are basins containing salt and borax.
Springs are rare, and as a rule the streams do not flow the
whole year round. Some of th& lakes shown on maps as
occupying the lowest places in the basins are not lakes at
all except in the wet season. In the dry winter season
they are either covered with fine grasses and rushes, or with
clay, salt, magnesia, or borax. For example, the Laguna

60 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

del Portezuelo, shown on some maps as a lake sixty
to seventy miles long and eighteen to twenty miles
wide, is in winter a feeding ground for sheep and llamas,
and one may ride across it from end to end. A few
scattered houses have been built above the high-water
mark of the wet season, but the dwellers have a hard
time finding enough water for their domestic needs.
The same winter dryness prevails farther south. The

Fig. 23. Pastoral nomads with flock of sheep and goats on the western
border of the desert of A tacama
Laguna de Guatayoc and other lakes are really grassy
plains in the dry season, except for a central area where
salt deposits take the place of the grasses. Some of
these immense salty plains look very much like great
inland seas. The mirage is almost always to be seen at
midday; troops of vicuna appear to be standing up to
their knees in water when they are really feeding on the
grasses; -mounds on the plain appear turned upside
down; and a sand drift looks like a shimmering pool.
The Llama Herders. Here and there in the north
western basins of the Argentine one comes upon a native

THE ARGENTINE 61
hut, a wretched thing of mud and grass, less than twelve
feet square and six feet high. The dependence of the
people upon the llama is seen in the corral which is always
built near the hut and in which the llamas are herded
every night for fear of the puma that makes his home
in the mountains near by. The llamas feed upon the
coarse, spiny, rushlike grasses as well as on the finer
grasses mixed with them. Llamas and sheep form -the
chief food of the people as well as their source of cloth
ing to protect them from the winter cold of the plateau.
The highest pastures are used only in summer. When
the winter cold comes on the shepherds leave their
temporary huts and drive their flocks down to the lower
valleys (Fig. 23). They are therefore migratory shep
herds, though none of them are true nomads since they
have fixed homes for both seasons of the year.
The constant tending of their flocks and the immense
amount of walking this makes necessary have made the
Indian herders great walkers and runners; their speed
and endurance are truly marvelous. A man will take a
message two hundred miles and back in six days for
about thirty-five cents a day and provide his own food.
Once a man carried a telegram forty miles to the station,
received an answer, and brought it back, eighty miles
in all, in eighteen hours, for the trifling sum of eighty
cents. Even children are. excellent walkers and have
great endurance. They learn to tend the flocks almost
from babyhood, and not uncommonly one may see a
tiny lad of four years herding a flock of big llamas.
Buenos Aires. We have only three cities in the United
States that are larger than Buenos Aires. A remarkably
large portion of all the people of the country, about one
fifth, live in the capital city. None of the other cities
even approach this; one in size. Indeed, if we should put

62 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
together all the other cities of the Argentine that contain
more than six thousand people we would have a city
only from one half to two thirds the size of Buenos Aires.
The gathering of so many people into a single town is
usually deplored by those who believe that the inhab
itants of a country should five on the land. While it
is in part true that the policy of landowners to live in the
city and leave the management of their great estates to
superintendents does not favor the best use of the land,
there is an advantage in the unusual growth of the city
population. The close association of so many people has
stimulated the growth of the national spirit to a degree
far beyond that which the people would otherwise have
developed. The Argentines have become proud of their
chief city and willingly endure heavy taxes that it may
be made beautiful, healthful, and comfortable. A great
city will support good newspapers, theaters, and public '
buildings, wide, clean streets, comfortable street cars, and
electric lights.
These are the signs of civilization, to be sure, and not
the substance of it, but in the enjoyment of these things
the Argentine has become broader minded, his ingenu
ity has been stimulated, and he has been taught to regard
his country as one with great opportunities and with a
great future. The army and navy maneuvers are the •
delight of thousands of sight-seers, and pride has been
created in the military branch of the government.
Buenos Aires has in this manner become a force that
is felt all over the country and without which the seven
and a half millions of Argentines would not form the
strong nation that they are to-day. '. «|
Buildings and People. There is in the city of Buenos ?'
Aires none of the natural beauty that forms so large
a part of the attraction at Rio de Janeiro (p. 230) or

THE ARGENTINE

63

La Paz (p. 152). There are no encircling mountains, no
island-studded bays, no charm of tropical vegetation.
The city is laid out in a monotonous chessboard fashion
on a level plain fronted by the wide La Plata estuary,
like Chicago on the shore of Lake Michigan. The
attractiveness of the city lies partly in the cleanness of
its wide streets, the beauty and size of its- great public
buildings, its parks, and in its business facilities. One
of the interesting places' of the great city is: the water
front, where the ships of many nations come 'for flour
and -wheat, , cattle and sheep (Fig. 24). The 'lyfercado
Central de Frutos (Fig. 25) is the largest wholesale pro
duce market in' the world. Palermo Park, one of the
seventy-two parks in the city, has running streams,
pretty lakes, and long avenues of beautiful palms.
Like many other.South American cities Buenos Aires has
large numbers of foreigners. It is said that there are more
Italians in Buenos Aires than there are native-born
Argentines. And there are at least a hundred thousand

Fig. 24. One of the basins in the harbor of Buenos Aires. So crowded
is the shipping that vessels are often required to lie three or four
deep on the borders of , the artificial basins ,

64 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

Spaniards. Nearly every principal tongue is spoken and
each language has its newspapers. It is a curious fact

Frc. 25.

Courtesy of W. D. Roy cc ¦
A scene in the Central Market, Buenos Aires

that the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world
should be located not in Spain but in America. Buenos
Aires is almost twice as large as its nearest rival, Madrid,
though it should be remembered that of this, population
there are people of many nationalities other than Spanish.
The Lights and Buoys of the River Port. The port
( of Buenos Aires has many disadvantages in spite of the
vast anchorage grounds which the wide estuary affords^
•; The so-called Rio de la Plata is really an immense shoal
| estuary and the depositing ground of the great ParaitS!
• River (Fig. 26), which annually sends to the sea nearly
fifty per cent more water than the Mississippi. So much
sediment is constantly carried down this great river that),
the delta of the Parana is rapidly advancing into the La1
Plata estuary and in time will fill it completely uriless a
better means is discovered for disposing of the sediment. ;

THE ARGENTINE 65
Remarkable changes are shown in the position of the
forty-mile front of this delta on the ninety-two different
maps of it dating from 1529 to 1885.
The government has been working for many years to
improve the estuary for navigation and to accommodate
the constantly increasing size of the merchant ships.
Luminous buoys have been placed in the river all the
way from Buenos Aires to the mouths of the Parana,
the Bravo, and the Iguassu rivers. A floating semaphore,
an instrument that tells the navigator the depth of
water in the channel 'by night as well as by day, has
also been installed for the benefit of navigation. So
important is a knowledge of the height of the water in
the rivers tributary to the La Plata that the Argentine
government surveys them constantly and every year
makes new maps for the river pilots. The government
each week makes a forecast of the depth of water in the
various channels based on the study of gauges that
record the height of the water, and all the stations are
connected by telegraph.

Courtesy of W. D. Boyce
Fig. 26. Scene on the Parand River

66 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
Sometimes the shifting rivers play queer tricks with
the work of man, as in the case of the ditch of a market
gardener some thirty years ago, opposite Ibicuy River.
The ditch had been dug so that the gardener might take
his canoe by a shorter course to the main channel, but
when the next flood came the river overran the ditch
and deepened it to a channel, and now ocean steamers
pass through the "Canal del Mercador," or the "canal
of the merchant," on their way down from Rosario.
It was in 1885 that the government first began the
construction of docks at Buenos Aires. Before that time
all the business was done from an anchorage about-
twelve miles from the city. Passengers and goods were
transferred from ships to lighters and from lighters to
small boats and finally to great wheel carts that went
out long distances from shore. The north channel
which leads to the docks that now front the city is five
and a half miles long, three hundred and thirty feet wide,
and at low tide allows vessels having a draft of twenty-
one feet to enter. When the tide is high (the tidal range
is only a few feet at Buenos Aires) vessels drawing twenty-
seven feet of water may enter. There are only twelve
ports in the world having a greater tonnage than that
at Buenos Aires, and none of them has had such an
extraordinary growth in so short a time (Fig. 24).
Other Ports of the Argentine. A large part of the;
business of the' Argentine is transacted outside of Buenos;
Aires iri spite of the exceptional size of that city. Among
the ports of the republic, Rosario is second and is the'
outlet for a wide area of rich grain-producing country t
in the province of Santa Fe. The port is located on ,the.
west bank of the Parana and has the advantage of a>
deep-water channel to the edge of the high bank that
there overlooks the river. The elevated position of the

THE ARGENTINE

67

city enables the easy loading of grain vessels, the chutes
of the elevators down which the grain slides by gravity
connecting directly with the holds of the grain ships.
Expensive port works, including docks, warehouses, and
elevators, have also been constructed. With the improve
ment of the river so that its channels shall be wider and
more stable the port of Rosario has a still greater future
, (Fig. 27). Though located, far up the Parana, it receives
ocean-going vessels and thus saves the high cost of a long
haul by freight train. The chief exports are corn and
wheat, for which the position of the port is admirably.
adapted. Among the other, exports are irietals from
the mines of the north, hides from the pastures of the

Courtesy of Rudolph SlheviU
Fig. 27. Dredging a channel in the Parana River near Rosario.
The constant shifting of the sand bars makes it necessary to dredge the
ship channels almost constantly so that navigable channels may be
maintained. Note the low, flat banks in the distance. These
are characteristic of the Parand and the Paraguay

68 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
Paraguay, and alfalfa from the grasslands west of the
city. German, Swiss, and Italian immigrants have

Courtesy of W. D. Boyce
Fig. 28. Bird's-eye view of Parana, Argentine Republic
founded settlements in the country roundabout and have
built permanent homes.
Below Rosario are other cities of growing importance,
such as Villa Constitucion, San Nicolas, Zarate, Campana,
and San Pedro, while above Rosario are the ports of
Diamante, Santa Fe, Colastine, Corrientes, and Parana
(Figs. 28 and 29).
The New Harbor at Bahia Blanca. On the bay of
Bahia Blanca, where the Atlantic coast of the Argentine
makes a great curve to the west, is the harbor and city
of Bahia Blanca (White Bay). For a long time this
town was of little importance, but it has recently become
a center of commercial interest, partly on account of the
crowded condition of the port of Buenos Aires, partly C,
also because of the improvement; of" the port of Bahia
Blanca and the development of the .surrounding country. ;|
Argentines are fond of speaking of it as the Liverpool . ..
of the south, though this name it bears more because of
its future than because of its present commerce. But a

THE ARGENTINE

69

future it will certainly have, for the Argentine coast has
only a few really good natural ports, and among these
Bahia Blanca ranks high. The harbor possesses spacious
accommodation for the largest ships and an entrance so
narrow as to be easily defended in case of war. The
railway systems are being put into better connection with
Bahia Blanca and have already turned in that direction
a great deal of commerce from a region which was once
tributary to Buenos Aires.
A Seacoast Country without a Fishing Fleet. With
all its long stretch of Atlantic coast, the Argentine has
not a single important fishing station. In some places
the reason for this condition is easy to see, as on the
coast of Patagonia, where the tides are so high that fish
ing operations would have to be carried on under extreme
difficulties, though this will not explain the condition
everywhere. There are excellent fish in the sea and a
ready market for them in the coast towns, but a race of
fishermen has not yet been produced nor are the new
settlers fisherfolk.
The lack of a fishing people in the Argentine Republic
is felt in the development of the navy, whose sailors are

Courtesy of W, D. Boyce
FiG. 29. General view of Corrientes, Argentine Republic

70 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
not drawn largely from fishing districts, as in other coun
tries, but from the army, the National Guard. New and
cheap land close to good markets has been so easily
obtained by the incoming settler that he has found no
attraction in fishing.
The Flooded River Country. The two great eastern
streams, the Parana and the Paraguay, are of much
importance to the people of the region they drain and
are the only natural highways of travel and trade. In
their lower courses both rivers have a very uncertain
behavior. The Paraguay is especially unreliable. For
the most part it runs in an alluvial bottom as wide as
the English Channel. In the season of flood all the
bottom land is submerged, cut-offs occur, sand banks
form and reform,- and the whole course of the main stream
may be found to have been changed when the floods
subside. During the season of high water, which is three
months of the year, the river country is so completely
flooded that only groves of trees stand as islands above the
swamps and lakes that border the main stream. Down
this ever-changing channel the trade of the Chaco of
Bolivia must find its way, and, capricious as the river is,
it enables' man to enter the country by boats for more
than two thousand miles above Buenos Aires.
The Grasslands of the Parana Valley. While a large
part of the Parana region is tropic forest, there are also
vast savannas where the richest pastures are to be found.
These lie between the open flats of the Paraguay River
and the forested valleys of the upper Parana. They
commence in scattered pastures upon the hills of central
Paraguay and run in widening extent northward along
the Maracayu to Cuyaba, .where they merge with the
grasslands of the sandstone plateau of Matto Grosso
that forms a part of the great interior plateau of Brazil.

THE ARGENTINE 71
The upland pastures afford grazing for live stock during
the greater part of the year, but in the dry summer
months the flocks and herds must be driven down to the
lowlands, where they feed upon the young tussock grass
and wild grain.
The unoccupied grazing lands of Matto Grosso and
Goyaz alone cover an area as large as the state of Texas
and possess a grazing value fully equal to that of Texas.
The value of the grazing lands accessible to the markets
that use cattle for the frozen-meat and jerked-beef trade
has risen in recent years because of the rise in the price
of cattle. There is in consequence a steady, stream of
squatters passing northward by way of lower Misiones
and Paraguay. They drive troops of mares, mules, and
horses, and carry their household goods and women.
At Posadas they pass at the rate of two hundred a
month. They come from the regions farther down the
valleys where for many years. they were permitted to
"squat," that is, use the land without really owning it or
paying taxes or rent to any one, but from which they were
obliged to move because the real owners of the land no
longer allowed them on it. The owners of the lands
whence the squatters are being driven have, found their
land suddenly valuable because of the steadily growing
importance of the frozen- and chilled-meat industry in
the Argentine and Uruguay.
Thus, remote as these grasslands are from the sea,
they' are after all far more valuable than the forest lands
of the upper Parana which lie much nearer the sea, for
man can travel about in grasslands, can produce cattle
upon which to depend for food and money, and find
a climate far more healthful than in the damp forests.
Even the wood of the grasslands is more easily obtained
than, that of the forest where it grows in such abundance.

72 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
The scattered groves and belts of timber along the water
courses are easily reached and the timber may be taken
over an easy route as compared with the difficulty of
carting it through a jungle. With railways and wagon
roads the lands most available for colonization are those
located along the fringe where the forest ends and the
plains begin, for here are both timber and pasture, as
well as a climate that makes diversified farming possible.

CHAPTER V
THE VALLEYS OF CENTRAL CHILE
The Yankees of South America. The people of •
central Chile live in the cool zone of South America where
the climate is pleasant (Plate III). It is neither so hot as
to weaken a man through disease nor so cold as to require
all his energy to procure a food supply. The effect of
these climatic conditions has been to make the people of
central Chile very energetic. In spite of its small size
Chile is one of, the most important couritries of South
Arnerica. Its army and navy are the pride of every
Chilean and compare very well with an equal number of
the armed forces of Germany or the United States. The
beautiful Chilean horses are as good as may be found
anywhere and give the cavalry a fine appearance on the
Sunday parades that are held throughout the year. In
the war with Peru in 1879-1883, Chile quickly overcame
the small Peruvian navy, defeated one army after another,
and at last took Lima and held it until the end of the
war. To see a battalion of the Chilean army go marching
down the streets of Santiago is to see one of the finest
military sights in South America. A troop. of cavalry in
Chile is able to parade or fight with much the-same vigor
and success as a troop of the emperor's guard in the days
of Napoleon or von Moltke.
The energy of the Chileans is shown in -many other
ways than those relating to the army and navy. The
industry and ingenuity of the people are exhibited in their
schools and colleges, their railroads and wagon roads, their
streets and parks (Fig. 30), their everyday business, and
their relations with* their neighbors. The Chileans are well
aware of their own progressive qualities and are so proud
73

74 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
of them that they call themselves the Yankees of South
America. To them the word ' ' Yankee' ' means a person of

¦ "":-'

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IMHmv^ 4ffl m!km J^

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Fig. 30. Central plaza at Copiapo, Chile
energy and ingenuity, and, as they use the word, it also
means a wide-awake citizen of the United States. They
admire the way in which the United States has pros
pered; the energy that we display has always been a
matter of interest in South American countries.
A Long, Narrow Country. A more peculiar distribution
of national land cannot be found 'than that in Chile.
Think of a country so long that if one end of it were placed
upon New Orleans the other end would reach the Arctic
Circle, and yet so narrow that one could cross it in a
few days on foot. The widest place is at the Strait of
Magellan, where it is two hundred and fifty miles from
east to west ; the narrowest part is near Hanover Island,
where it measures but sixty miles across. The total area
of Chile is three times that of Illinois and Indiana, but
the length of the country is equal to the distance
from Alaska to southern Mexico. ' Its shape and size
have been determined partly by war and conquest but

THE VALLEYS OF CENTRAL CHILE 75
more largely by its position on a narrow strip of country
between the lofty Andes Mountains and the sea. Lofty
mountains are difficult' to pass. People visit them for
the grand scenery they display, but few live in them, as
a rule, for, if we except mineral deposits, thin pastures,
and possibly a little timber, they are without resources to
attract men.
The Andes Mountains that confine Chile to the seacoast
are among the few really lofty highlands of the world.
Aconcagua is perhaps the loftiest mountain in the western
hemisphere. Its peak reaches up into the region of
eternal snows, attaining an altitude of over twenty-three
thousand feet. Aconcagua lies on the boundary between
Chile and the Argentine. North and south of it are
ranges and groups of lofty volcanic peaks' whose bare,
cold surfaces repel the' settler and the, traveler alike. A
vacant region such as this is an ideal boundary between
nations. There are as a rule rip close neighbors whose,1
rights or qtiarrels may bring two governments into,
dispute and possibly into war with each other. Neither;
are there likely to be- natural sources of wealth to cause
difficulty. Yet Chile and the Argentine have in the; past had several
serious arguments and threatened, wars over boundary
claims. The boundary treaty between the two republics'
says that the boundary south of the 40th -parallel must
follow the principal peaks and divides, between theeast-
and west-flowing streams. These are, however, :~ so
irregular that the words of the treaty are not always easy
to apply. - Some of 'the Chileari rivers have cut clear,
through the mountain range and now head on the plains
east of the mountains, a region that the Argentine has
always claimed. The trouble' became acute a few years
ago, and 'both sides prepared for war. Fleets were

76 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
made ready, soldiers drilled, and both nations became
very much inflamed by warlike speeches. At last better
counsels prevailed. Surveyors were employed to study
the country thoroughly, and the king of England decided
the case on the basis of the survey. Both sides accepted
his award, and to commemorate the peaceful settlement
there was raised on the divide between Chile and the
Argentine a colossal statue of the Christ. It was cast from
old Spanish cannon left there about eighty years before.
On it is this inscription: "Sooner shall these mountains
crumble into dust than Chileans and Argentines shalL
break this peace which at the feet of Christ, the Redeemer,
they have sworn to maintain" (Fig. 31).
The Valley of Paradise. The Spaniards explored the

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i
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y^SSP^j
v.-V. 5^31
Mg|
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..v-- r
1
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*-"-.v
. -
4
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Courtesy of *the Pan-American Union
Fig. 31. " Christ of the Andes." Monument erected on the boundary
line between Chile and the Argentine Republic, after a
boundary quarrel that once threatened war
THE VALLEYS OF CENTRAL CHILE 77
desert coast of northern Chile in ships built at Panama —
tiny caravels which, beside the ocean liners of to-day,
would look like the boats of children. They coasted
southward, hundreds of miles, and for most of the way
were in sight of a stern desert coast. At last they came
to the end of the desert. They had reached the northern
edge of the belt of westerly winds in Chile where the
more constant rains support a covering of green vege
tation. So overjoyed were they at finding themselves
once more in a land of trees and green grass. that their
enthusiasm was intense, especially when' they reached
the first green valley, which they called the "Valley of
Paradise," or as it is spelled in Spanish, "Valparaiso,"
to-day the greatest commercial port of Chile (Fig. 32).
The Fertile Valley of Central Chile. The land beyond
the desert which so delighted the eyes of the early Span
ish explorers is now often known as southern Chile. N
Strictly speaking, it should be called central Chile, and
such we shall designate it here, for the real southern end
of Chile . is composed of islands and peninsulas without
nurriber, and although it is wooded and has an abundant
vegetation it has actually fewer people to-day than has
an equal area of the desert of Atacama in northern Chile.
Central Chile is wholly different from the northern and :
southern extremities of the country since it; lies between;
the two extremes of heat and aridity on the one hand and
cold and heavy rainfall on the other. This seems indeed
a "valley of Paradise" when its mild climate, fertile "soil,
and refreshing rainsare compared with the harsh conditions
one' finds in the regions on the north arid the south.
This is the part of the country that attracted the earliest
settlers, and here we find the great majority of Chileans
to-day. Although central Chile embraces but one fifth-
of the entire country, it contains four fifths of the people.

78 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

There is but one inhabitant to every two square miles
of country in northern desert Chile, and less than that
number in the south, but there are seventeen to each
square mile in the central section.
In the central section of Chile are almost all of the
schools, colleges, and universities of the nation, the
great cities and railways, and many of the ports and
manufacturing- plants (Fig. 33). This is also the land of the
gardener, the farmer, and the herder. In this section are
produced a large part of the grain and hay shipped north
for the animals employed in the mines and the nitrate
fields of the desert. Here are raised the animals which
are purchased in great numbers and shipped north, the
cattle for meat and the horses for draft animals. Wheat
and corn are produced in great quantities, and steel and'
flour mills have been built.
Upon the mountain sides where the land is too steep
for cultivation, and the soil too thin, are pastured great

Courtesy of the Pan -American Union

Fig. 32. Monument to Prat y Bahia, Valparaiso t Chile

THE VALLEYS OF CENTRAL CHILE

79

droves of sheep and herds of cattle. It is here that we
find the ranchmen of Chile. Their flocks and herds go

Fig. 33. Street scene in central Chile
far up into the mountains in summer, when the lower
pastures are withered or scanty, to graze on the short
rich grasses nourished by the winter rains and snows; in
the winter time they are driven down into the valleys.
Some are slaughtered for food, others are shipped into
regions where cattle are not kept, still others supply
milk, butter, and cheese in very limited quantities to
their owners, or to the people of the towns.
Central Chile also produces large quantities of wine,
and the lands which support. this industry are of great
extent. In the central valley south of Santiago there are
miles upon miles of vineyards (Fig. 34). During the
grape-gathering season the vineyards are dotted with grape
pickers, , It is the busiest and happiest, season of the year,
with singing and dancing every evening. The harvest
gathered, the manufacture of the wine begins. It is.

80 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
made in almost numberless varieties, stored in bottles and
casks and prepared for shipment. All Spanish-speaking

Fig. 34. Vineyard in central Chile
peoples are addicted to the use of wine, the most com
mon of the social beverages. Its universal use means the
support of the wine industry not only of Chile but of the
Argentine as well, and in addition great quantities of it
are imported from California, Peru, France, and Italy.
The Scenery of Southern Chile. In clear weather
the southern end of Chile is the most picturesque part
of the entire country. Lofty mountains border a steep,
irregular shore. At the extreme southern end of the region
it is so cold that there are numerous snow fields feeding
glaciers that in places extend far down the mountain
valleys and even to the sea. At the Strait of Magellan,
which belongs to Chile, the mountain-bordered shore is
a marvel of coastal scenery. On the lower slopes are
dense forests of beech and oak, higher up are the stunted
alpine plants of the zone of cold, while the peaks and crests
of the mountains are without vegetation of any sort, the
surface consisting either of bare, cold rock or of snow

THE VALLEYS OF CENTRAL CHILE 81
fields. The contrast between dark forest and white snow
and ice, between green sea and blue or gray cloud-covered
Sky is one of the charming aspects of a view which is
perhaps the most striking and certainly one of the most
beautiful in all South America.
The bold coast and the fine scenery of the Strait of
Magellan extend with some variations for several hundred
-miles northward. The shore is island-fringed through
out. So numerous are the islands and islets that even
the government officials who have surveyed and studied
many of them do not know exactly how many there are.
That there are thousands upon thousands is however
well known. Between the islands and the mainland are
great numbers of channels, straits, and bays, all very
deep, for these islands represent the tops of mountains
whose bases are far below the level of the sea. When one
sails about the islands he sails about mountain tops,
not in air as one might sail about mountain tops in a
balloon or an airship, but on water in which the moun
tains have been half drowned. There are few good
beaches; the shore consists rather of bold cliffs or steep
mountain sides upon which the sea has as yet done but
little work.
Everywhere throughout the region are dense forests of
beech and oak. So close do the trees stand, and so rank
is the growth of leaves, vines, and underbrush, that one
appears to be in a tropical rather than a temperate-zone
forest. The dense growth is due to the heavy rainfall.
The sky is almost continually overcast; rainstorms are
of almost daily occurrence. It is stated that in some
places over two hundred inches of rain fall every year.
, Some people who know the region well, speak of it humor
ously as a place where it rains thirteen months in the year
and where men become web-footed! Naturally people

82 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
have not been attracted to the region, and government
officials at the extreme south are given half time off with
full pay. Soriie lumbering is now carried on in a few
places, but as a whole the region is without an important
population,' — a wilderness of intricate waterways, primi
tive forests, and picturesque mountains.
Any country is fortunate which has important
deposits of coal to run its railroad trains and factories.
South American countries are as a rule unfortunate in
having little or no coal. Brazil and the Argentine, the
two largest countries, are obliged. to import all the coal
they use, and it is very expensive. In this respect Chile
is more fortunate. Large deposits of good coal (soft)
occur in the provinces of Arauco and Concepcion.
Coronel, Lota, and Valdivia, south of Santiago and
Punta Arenas, on the Strait of Magellan, are the principal
coal centers, though development is active at only the
three first named. By far the larger part of the coal
used in Chile must be brought from other countries
— chiefly Wales and Australia; and the use of coal is
rapidly increasing. Between 1903 and 1907 the con
sumption of coal doubled. The home production is still
too small (about a million tons) greatly to affect the
price. A ton of soft coal costs from eight to ten dollars
in gold.
From i860 to 1864 Chile was the greatest copper-
producing country. Its annual output was then from
sixty to seventy per cent of the total output of the
'copper mines of the world. The copper districts of
that day, at Copiap6 and Coquimbo, were the richest
and most progressive in all Chile. Thus in 1851 the
first railway in Chile was built from the port called
Caldera to the town of Copiap6 in the center of a rich
copper and silver region. One of the first theaters in

THE VALLEYS OF CENTRAL CHILE - 83
Chile was built at Copiap6 (Fig. 30) at about the same time.
Chile is still a large copper-producing country but it is
no longer the first. At Chiiquicamata in northern Chile
there is a whole mountain of copper ore only a hundred
miles from the coast. The ore will be excavated in
open pits by steam shovels and transported over a special
ore railroad to the coast, where it will be smelted. The
product will be distributed among nor them, countries,
chiefly by way of the Panama Canal. Copper will soon
be produced by the millions of pounds and at a very
cheap rate, since no expensive mine timbering or tunneling
and blasting will . be required. Southeast of Santiago,
at Braden, are other deposits almost equally extensive,
and many of the old mines, of which there are hundreds,
are still producing important amounts of ore. Next to
nitrate, copper is the most important mineral production
of Chile. The total exports of the country are valued
at nearly ten million dollars.

CHAPTER VI
THE COASTAL DESERT OF CHILE AND PERU
A Long, Narrow Desert between Mountains and Sea.
We have already seen that South America has the south
ernmost people in the world, the Yaghans and Onas of
Tierra del Fuego, and the southernmost city in the
world, Punta Arenas. It has also the loftiest large
lake — Titicaca ¦ — twelve thousand five hundred feet
above the sea; the largest river, the Amazon; and one
of the longest deserts, the so-called west-coast desert.
The length of this desert exceeds sixteen hundred miles,
a distance as great as from Chicago to the Arctic Ocean
or from the equator to Florida. Yet its width is in
few places more, and in most places less, than a hun
dred miles. One can cross it in two days of hard riding
by mule caravan, but the coast steamers generally spend
from two to three weeks between Payta, Peru, and
Valparaiso, Chile, the two extremities of the desert.
The Features of a Desert. A desert is popularly
regarded as a place where no rain falls — a lifeless plain
of yellow sand. As a matter of fact there is no rainless
desert upon the whole earth; and while many deserts
have Vast, flat, sand-covered plains, all deserts have hills
and valleys as well. It is a common mistake to suppose
that deserts are without inhabitants, for while some parts
of all deserts are truly deserted, there is no known desert
wholly without people. It is also noteworthy that the
life of all deserts is highly specialized: the plants have
thick bark or leaves, or hairs, thorns, and deeply pene
trating roots; the animals have sharpened senses and
adaptations for sustaining life with a limited supply of
84

THE COASTAL DESERT OF CHILE AND PERU 85

water; and the primitive people of the desert generally
have interesting ceremonies which they believe will bring
rain. There are with
in the borders of
the west-coast
desert of South
America moun
tains from fifteen
thousand to eigh
teen thousand feet
high, hundreds
of thousands of
people, and a large
variety of plants
and animals that
find food and shel
ter in its valleys
and plains. More
over while the west-coast desert is often described as rain
less, some rain actually does fall. The amount is never
great, and while one spot may have several showers a year
a neighboring spot may be without rain for many years.
Since it never rains on the moon a traveler has suggested
that in parts of the west-coast desert where rio rain has
fallen for many years, curious people, who wonder what
the moon's surface would look like, might get a very
fair notion of it.
The west-coast desert owes its origin to the mountains
and the winds. The lofty Andes shut off the moist south
east trade-winds or break them up into a complex system
of shifting winds that follow the trend of cross valleys and
ridges (Figs. 35 and 36). Furthermore, the moisture of
the trades is deposited on the eastern slopes of the Andes

Fig. 35. Sail-car on the Antofagasta-
Bolivia Railway near Calama, Chile.
The men push the car out to their work
in the morning and at night raise
the sail and blow back into town

86 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
and the westward-moving air descends upon the coastal
region so dry that no rain can fall from it. The eastern
slopes are therefore clothed with dense forests; the
western slopes are so dry as either to support no vege
tation at all or only low shrubs, mosses, thin grasses,
and cacti. If the region were not in the zone of the
steady trades the wind would blow for several .days at a
time from the sea and rain would fall where now the
desert prevails. More rain would fall also if it were not
for the cold Humboldt Current near shore. This cools
the air over it to so low a temperature that when, as in
the afternoon, the wind blows for a few hours from the.
sea to the land, it is heated by the land about as much
as it is cooled by rising on the flanks of the coastal moun
tains. There would be a desert here even if the Humboldt
Current did not exist-, but the cold current makes the
aridity more intense.
The west-coast desert receives the equivalent of a
slight rainfall from the almost constant mist that hangs
like a cloud bank over the edge of land and sea. The

Fig. 36. Wind ripples on the surface of a sand dune, Atacama Desert

THE COASTAL DESERT OF CHILE AND PERU 87
natives say it is the "poncho," or cloak of the sea nightly
drawn. over its head. Water particles from the mist

Fig. 37. A caravan starting on a journey across the desert of Tarapacd
cover are collected upon the leaves and stems of plants
and a small quantity is also absorbed by the soil. From
these slender sources enough fnoisture is derived to
nourish a small number of plants. The amount is gen
erally small, but in some places, as at -Mollendo, Peru,
it is enough to support grasses upon which feed a consid
erable number of mules, donkeys, goats, and even cattle.
East of Antofagasta a small oasis is maintained by this
means and enough moisture collects in the spoon-shaped
cactus leaves to supply the goats with the little drinking
water they need. Where the coastal mountains are higher,
as for example east of the port of Camana, Peru, there is
some rainfall during the southern winter; and at intervals
of several years it is fairly abundant. In contrast to the
surrounding desert the mountain slopes are here covered
with a thick carpet of grass and flowers. Hundreds of
cattle are driven to the rich pastures from near arid far
to grow fat before the returning sun dries up the soil and
withers the grasses.
Desert Travel and " Signs of the Way." In such a dry
desert as that on the west coast of South America it is
difficult to travel, any distance from the railroads that

SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

j^pppt*

tap the larger valleys, the nitrate fields, and the mines.
One must carry all one's food or depend upon the
very uncer
tain supply
which can be
found in
small, scant
ily watered
oases on the
way. The
view (Fig. 37)
of a caravan
or pack train
crossing the
desert of
Tarapacd in
northern Chile shows
not only how
lifeless part
of the coun-

SPBJWIIIlJMttMJiUilll

 J

Fig. 38. A mountain trail in the Maritime Andes
in northern Chile. A heap of stones called
" signo del camino" guides the traveler
in those places where the trail
is hidden in the sand

try is but how well provided the traveler must be with
the necessaries of life. These men are beginning a
journey of several weeks and have brought along not
only bedding, tents, fuel, and heavy clothing for the
cold nights, but also food of all kinds -in tins, vegetables
from the nearest oases, and enough drinking water to
last them until they reach the next spring. They travel
with an Indian guide who knows the way from one camp
site to another. If darkness overtakes them too far
from a village, and they do not wish to travel all night,
they camp in some sheltered spot and sleep on the bare
ground. Their guide curls up under a bush or in the
corner of a stone corral and has no covering but a thin

THE COASTAL DESERT OF CHILE AND PERU 89

Fig. 39. A wayside cross on one of the
desert roads of northern Peru

blanket, though in the mountains east of the desert,
whither the travelers are bound, he is at times buried in
snow when he wakes.
The trails of the desert are in many places covered with
sand and difficult to find, so that signs of the way, called
signos del camino, are
erected. These are
nothing more than
heaps of stones piled
beside the trail and
so large as never to
be obscured by sand
(Fig. 38). Some of
them are of great size,
each traveler adding
a stone or two that
he may have a safe journey. If the signos are on a
mountain pass the Indians sometimes leave beside them
small offerings to their deities, such as a candle or a piece
of meat or some wool, to bring good luck. Once in a
while one may see erected over a heap of stones a cross
bearing the inscription "INRI," which means, "Jesus
of Nazareth, King of the Jews" (Fig. 39).
Fig. 40 shows four parties of desert travelers pitching
camp beside a pool of water. A dead mule shows on
the left. The water on the right is covered with a green
scum and is salty, but it is all that may be had within
many miles. After a long, hot ride it is better to use
water like this than make a "dry camp," for without
water it is impossible to eat dry food, which only increases
one's thirst.
From Tropic Forest to Barren Desert. Of all the
interesting features of the west coast of South America
none is perhaps more lasting in the mind of the traveler

90 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
than the startling suddenness with which he comes upon
the coastal desert in sailing south from Ecuador. The

Fig. 40. Pack trains and desert travelers making camp beside
a desert pool
last port at which the steamer touches before reaching
the desert is Guayaquil. There may be seen every sign
of abundant and timely rains. The hill slopes behind the
city are green with foliage, there is abundant pasturagef§
for the cattle and mules outside the town, and the banks
of the Guayas River are deeply fringed with dense tropical
vegetation. The next morning the scene has changed.;.
completely, for in a single night one has passed" the
boundary between "the desert and the sown." At the
northern end of the great coast desert of South America,^
there are practically no streams, for the region is nearly
rainless; there is so little vegetation that at a distance
the landscape seems bare and yellow; in place of herds
of cattle as at Guayaquil one sees here only a few small
flocks of scrawny goats that somehow pick a scanty living
• from the dry and extremely tough vegetation that sur
vives the desert dryness.

THE COASTAL DESERT OF CHILE AND PERU 91

A Typical Desert Port. The first port of call for vessels
southward bound along the ocean border of the desert is
Payta, a typical desert port (Fig. 41). It lies in a bend
of the Peruvian coast and is built at the foot of the
bluffs that border the shore. There are nearly always a
few vessels at anchor in the harbor, receiving and dis
charging cargoes of merchandise including rice, clothing,
and implements. A railway leads eastward out of the
town, and there is an air of business and importance about
the place quite foreign to the sterile desert about it. One
looks in vain for any sign of vegetation, yet there are fine
vegetables in the market booths. Surely the desert does
not supply the great packages of skins taken on board

Fig. 41. A British steamer with Chinese rice at Payta, Peru. The
small raft in the foreground is a "balsa," used for making short
trips along the shore and in sailing out to meet an
incoming steamer. It is made of bamboo and is very
light. The ocean here is so quiet that no storms
ever occur and even a small boat is safe

92 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
the steamer! Large quantities of rice and cotton are
shipped abroad, but where are they grown? How does
such a smaii port maintain such an important trade?
The Nile of Northern Peru. Our questions will be
answered if we but follow the railway leading toward
the interior. A few hours' ride across a barren and almost
lifeless plain of sand and we arrive at Piura, one of the
most interesting cities in all South America. Upon it
depends almost the entire prosperity of the port of
Payta. Up and down the far-famed valley of the Piura
River are the plantations and farms of the people, with
irrigation ditches leading the water of the river out upon
the fields where rice, sugar cane, and especially cotton
are grown. Without the life-giving river all would be dry
and barren. What the Nile is to Egypt, what the Indus
and the Ganges are to the people of India, so in its
small way is the Piura to the people of northwestern
Peru. Small wonder they regard it with a feeling akin to
reverence. A Feast Day for a River. It is not surprising there
fore that the people of Piura have a great feast day on
account of the river. Once a year, when the mountain ;
snows are being melted and the summer rains return,
the sources of the Piura are fed with precious water.
The river gradually rises as the flood moves downstream,, ;
spreading over and enriching the valley bottom and
feeding the irrigation ditches that in turn water the
fields. Long before the flood arrives the people ask
.every traveler from upstream where the river is and how
fast the flood is coming,- and in this way they learn when
the river will arrive.
On the day when the beneficent river is due the people %
of Piura, men, women, and children, usually about five
thousand in number, march upstream in a body to meet

THE COASTAL DESERT OF CHILE AND PERU 93
and welcome the river. This is the great fiesta or feast
day of the year. With fife and drum they escort the
river down to the main bridge of the town, some miles
below Piura. At Catacaos (south of Piura) more than
five thousand people take part in a similar feast and with
much rejoicing welcome the river to their fields and
gardens. Upon this muddy, silt-laden, and sluggish
stream, not at all beautiful to the eye, depend . the
welfare and prosperity of a great many people. The
river is to them, in,ja sense, a harvest. If there is abun
dant water there will be abundant food; if there is little
Water some of the. people will suffer want.
; , Rain Once in Seven Years. The people of Piura have
another source of water supply. besides the river. Once
every five or ten years there are a few showers, for which
the people- eagerly wait. They are called the seven-year
rains. While they do not occur quite so regularly as
every seven years they are, after all, tolerably regular in
their appearance. Every few years the equatorial rain
belt which waters the country north of the desert, where
such abundant vegetation may be found, migrates farther
south than usual and brings a few showers to the thirsty
land, causing a most wonderful burst of life. Everywhere
the faint green tinge of the short, quick-growing grasses
may be seen, fragrant blossoms of many flowers fill the
air with sweetness, and for a few weeks a barren country
becomes beautiful. By the end of that time the water
has evaporated or sunk underground, the hot suri shrivels
the grasses and flowers, and once more the region has
become a yellow desert. Fig. 42 shows a street in Payta
where fruits and vegetables are sold and where many
people come and go. It is but a stream channel adapted
to the purposes of a street. One would not think it a
very safe place for a street, but as it rains only once in

94 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
five or ten years people using it are seldom inconvenienced
by running water.
The Best Cotton in the World. It is a familiar fact

Fig. 42. A stream channel in Payta, Peru, used as a street. As it
rains but once in seven years at Payta, the people are not
often troubled by the running water that keeps the channel open
to people who are well acquainted with the habits of
plants that differences of soil and climate from place to
place result in certain differences of qualities, either of
color, or size, or taste, in a given plant. Thus the famous
Havana tobacco leaf is produced only in western Cuba.
Likewise certain exceptionally good brands of coffee and
certain kinds of cotton can be produced only in special
places. Piura is noted for the kind of cotton grown' in
that remarkable valley. "Piura cotton is known among
cotton merchants for the peculiar strength of the long
fibers," which gives it a high value. The market price of
Piura cotton is nearly twice as great as that of the ordinary

THE COASTAL. DESERT OF CHILE AND PERU 95
kind grown in the United States or in India'. It is eagerly
sought for use in making special grades of cotton cloth
and for mixture with wool.
Goat Herds of the Piura Valley. The famous Piura
cotton is, however, not the sole product of this fertile
valley. A great deal of sugar cane is grown also. It is
not all used as we use it here, in making sugar and molasses.
Some of it is eaten raw, or rather, sucked after chewing,
for the natural sweet sap it contains. Since sugar cane
stands transportation very well it is bound into bundles
and taken on the backs of burros and mules across the
desert to many other towns where it is not produced, and
there sold as a delicacy. Goats are also raised for their
skins, which bring about two dollars apiece, delivered on
board the steamer.
Goats, are peculiarly adapted to the desert because
they are able to live upon very poor and dry food which
..would otherwise be lost because no other animal would

Fig. 43. Flock of goats and shepherds at Payta, Peru, atth'e northern
end of the Desert of Atacama. They feed on the tough
¦ desert shrubs that grow here and there in clumps in
the sandy waste

96 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

or could eat it. They browse upon the very dry resinous
shrubs of the desert, eating the softer parts; consume
great quantities of the bean of the algarroba, a kind of
locust tree; and feed on such Waste parts of barley and
other forage crops as ordinary animals refuse. They are
also herded upon the desert, where they range in flocks ;
that scour the yellow plain in search of food and that are
sometimes several weeks without water (Fig. 43).
Other Desert Ports. The steamer sailing south along
the coast of Peru stops at many desert ports and at each;
one sees as at Payta very much the same relation between
the port on the arid coast and the fertile interior valley
watered by a mountain stream. Fig. 44 represents the
port of Salaverry, whose harbor, like all those on the
desert coast of Peru, except Callao, the largest and best
of them all, is little more than an open roadstead. If this

Fig. 44. The port of Salaverry, Peru. Nothing at all grows in .
town; but a few miles north of it is a fertile valley which
supplies "the port

THE COASTAL DESERT OF CHILE AND PERU 97
were a stormy sea like that off the coast of southern Chile
or the eastern coast of the United States it would be one

Fig. 45. Hauling water at Taltal, Chile
of the most dangerous in the world. Mariners find
scarcely any natural protection for hundreds .of miles.
There are no deep bays or sheltering promontories, almost
no islands behind which ships can seek shelter and outride
a storm, and but few lighthouses, — a bold, harborless,
shelterless coast. ¦, .
, But few storms ever ruffle the surface of the Pacific
in the latitudes of the coasts of Peru and northern Chile.
It is a serene and beautiful tropical sea. For this reason
the early Spanish navigators called it "Oceano Pacifico,"
Which means the peaceful, calm, or quiet ocean. The
only motion of its waters is a smooth, and constant roll,
increasing in size as the shore is approached. The. surf
is heavy and landing in small boats is very difficult, and
in places even dangerous. Steamers and sailing craft-
therefore, anchor some distance from shore, and discharge
their cargoes into lighters called launches that are rowed
to a steel mole or wharf that extends into the sea.

98 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
In the port of Taltal, Chile, the city reservoir is located
on a hill, and pipes are run down from it to convenient

Fig. 46. Hauling water from railroad to mines, Chile
stations in the city. To these stations people must
come for their daily water supply. Some carry it away
in buckets, others in two-wheeled carts, and still others
in barrels to the ends of which axles have been fastened
that rotate as the barrel is pulled along by a donkey or
a mule. Fig. 45 shows a boy on his way to a water
depot, and since he must travel down hill, and the barrel
is without a brake, it is with great difficulty that he
can prevent it from rolling on to the heels of the donkey,
thus causing it to be broken to pieces by the kicking
beast. He leads it skillfully from one side of the
street to the other on an angle with the descent, and on
the return not uncommonly the donkey is obliged both
to pull the water barrel and to carry the boy. In Fig.
46 we have the water wagons of the coastal mines
coming out to the railroad for a water supply. The
mines are twelve miles away, but every drop of water
must be transported from the railroad, where tank cars

THE COASTAL DESERT OF CHILE AND PERU 99

convey wa
ter for long
di stances
from wells
or streams.
Some of the
coast towns
have a hard
time getting
a water sup-
ply. For
many years
they were
supplied by
boats from
d i s ta'nt
points where
water is
abundant.Others used
condensedsea water.
Caldera and
Antofagasta, are still part
ly supplied in
this way.
The Irri
gated Lands
of Peru. The
maps (Figs.
47> 48, 49)
show clearly
the law that

Fig. 47. The northern coast region of Peru. Here
are the most extensive irrigated lands in Peru.
If all the river water were turned upon the
fields the irrigated land could be
increased one half

100 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

controls the distribution of farms and therefore of cities
and ports in the coast desert of Chile and Peru. The
black areas,
representing.
the irrigated
tracts, are
regularly ar
ranged along
the coast be
tween the
mountains and the
shore. Wher
ever astream
of any size
comes down
from the
Cordillera,there men
have settled
on planta
tions and
ranches.Every port
in Peru is
Fig. 48. The central coast region of Peru. In the —thpr at
northern part of this region the mountains come elulu A^ d
down to the coast and the irrigated lands valleymouth
are near the valley mouths or connected
with a valley by rail. Though the total extent of the valley
lands is not large— but ten per cent of the coast region —
the people regard them as the most important part of their
country for, excepting the mines, there are almost no
other sources of wealth. The valleys (Figs. 50 and 51)
have a large part of the agricultural wealth already, j

THE COASTAL DESERT OF CHILE AND PERU 101

developed in Peru; they contain all the large cities of
the coast region and most of the population.
Trade of the Coast Valleys. So widely separated by
useless desert tracts are the coastal valleys of Peru that
land commerce has less importance than the trade carried
on by sea. A
few caravans
journeyfrom
valley to vaj-
ley .occasion
ally there is
a traveler,
often a pros-
ipector look
ing for min
eral wealth,
but these
total a very
small num
ber yearly.
Thesearoute
is preferable
to the trails.,
for it is cool
and much
more speedy. Yet even by sea there is not a large
traffic from valley to valley. Trade requires dissimilar
products which people may exchange for their common
benefit, and since almost all the valleys produce more
or less cattle, sugar, cotton, rice, and vegetables,
the trade among them is supplemented by a more
important trade between all the valleys, as a group,
and the United States, France, Italy, Germany, and
England. These countries manufacture cloth, tools,

Fig. 49. The southern coast region of Peru. Most
of the irrigation is near the western foot of the
mountains. Large, arid pampas, or flat
dune-covered lands, lie between the
Andes and the Coast Ranges

102 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
machinery, canned goods, shoes, and other necessities,
but all of them do not produce cotton, rice, and sugar in

Fig. 50.

View of an irrigated garden in the Loa valley at Santa Fe,
northern Chile

sufficient amounts for the uses of their people. So they
exchange their manufactured wares for raw products to
the satisfaction not only of themselves but of the people
in the coastal valleys as well.
Steamers and sailing vessels leave the ports of Europe
and America, round Cape Horn or pass through the Strait
of Magellan, and thus reach the coast of Peru, a voyage
more than eleven thousand miles long. The coastal
valleys of Peru are also in touch with the world through
the ocean carriers that stop at their mouths in passing
between the great ports of Europe and western North
America. German steamers of the Cosmos line go from
Hamburg to Vancouver and Seattle by way of the Strait
of Magellan, and return, trading at all the principal ports
on the way, a voyage at least six months long. The
routes of many steamers will be changed now that the

THE COASTAL DESERT OF CHILE AND PERU 103
Panama Canal is opened. Commerce between Peru and
the rest of the world will be more easily carried on.
Except Ecuador, no other country of South America will
profit so much through the use of the canal.
Fig. -41 shows a steamer which has just entered the
port of Payta with rice from China. She belongs to a
British firm but is manned by a Japanese crew and has
been chartered by Japanese merchants for trade with
South America. The people of Piura grow a great deal
of rice, but it is of such excellent quality and sells at so
high a price that it is exported to Chile and Europe and
cheap rice is imported from. China for the poorer classes.
A Straw Boat on the Ocean. In the same view (Fig. 41)
may be seen one of the curious boats which, some of the
people of the Peruvian coast employ for fishing or for

Fig. 51. Dam in the Loa valley near Santa FS, Chile. Large
-turbines have been installed and power is generated for
running the nitrate "oficina" at Santa Fe

104 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
making short voyages along the coast. It is made of
bamboo logs lashed together and propelled by a sail
fastened to a single mast. A rough board serves as a
rudder or as a scull when the wind is unfavorable.
Another kind of boat, still more curious, is made entirely
of braided straw and is so light that the owner can carry
it under his arm or on his back without the least trouble.
When the Spaniards came to Peru in 1532 they found
the Indians from the coast valleys sailing these queer
craft in considerable numbers. Upon them they brought
but vegetables and ornaments of gold, silver, and cloth
to the Spanish caravels. In his light boat the fisherman
puts out into the surf, watches the waves closely, paddles
with all his might on the back of some unusually high
wave, following it seaward, and soon is beyond the reach
of the surf. Often he is submerged under a huge wave,
but he is seldom overturned. When his craft becomes, *
wet the fisherman draws it up on the hot sunny beach,
where it soon dries out.
Seaport and Capital City. The commercial life of
Peru centers at the port of Callao, seven miles from
Lima, the capital city. Here are gathered vessels from
nearly every large country in the world. Lumber
schooners from Washington and Oregon; merchantmen
from China and Australia; coal vessels from England
and Wales; freight ships from France and Italy; German
steamers with general merchandise, and American steamers
from San Francisco, and New York. The flags of nearly
all nations are represented. A harbor is afforded in
the lee of the San Lorenzo Islands, a half mile off shore.
Besides its natural advantages Callao has many artificial
features, a deepened waterway close inshore, and modern
warehouses, docks, moles, and hoisting machinery. These
facilities are, however, quite -too few in number and the

THE COASTAL DESERT OF CHILE AND PERU 105
harbor nearly always contains vessels waiting their turn
at the docks.
Lima: the Mecca of Peruvians. In one of the remote
valleys of the Andes a traveler once met a Peruvian who
cared for his beasts and offered him shelter for the night.
After supper they fell to talking of travel, whereupon the
Peruvian remarked that all the trails of Peru lead ulti
mately to Lima, the largest and most important city in
the country. Many of his neighbors had spoken of the
hope that some day they might visit this wonderful city
as he had done when he was still a young man and as he
hoped to do again. Just then some ragged shepherds
passed by the door of the hut, and seeing them' he said,
"Think of it, those poor people have never seen Lima!','
Farther on, the traveler came to a lonely telegraph station
kept by the only white man in the place. The polite man
ners and well-dressed appearance of the operator were in
striking contrast' with" the drunken people about him'.
Asked if he was born in this wretched town, he drew
himself up and in a manner quite indescribable on account
of if s' extreme pride and dignity, he answered, "No; I arri
from,;.Li^a." _ Ljma is' indeed, an interesting city, no less because of its
long. arid romantic history than its beautiful plazas and
cathedral, its clean streets, and the wonderful view from
the hill of San Cristobal out over the red-tiled roofs, the
surrounding gardens and their irrigating canals, the
distant port of Callao, and the long, curving, desert coast
(Fig. 52) y In the cathedral are relics of great historic
interest that take one back through centuries; while
in the schools, and especially in the new School of Mines,
are found the most modern- machinery and bright young
students. It seems very odd , at first to pass from so
modern a school as that in which modem mining methods

106 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

are taught to a children's school where every one studies
aloud and where it appears as if the most diligent students
are those who make the most noise!
When we remember that the greater part of Peru is
unsettled country because it is covered with forest, or
because it is situated at too high an altitude, or is too
rocky or dry, and that the towns are for the most part
small and squalid (Fig. 54), it is easy to understand
why Peruvians think so highly of Lima. Once he has

Fig. 52. A general view near the city of Lima, Peru, from the top
of San Cristobal, a hill back of the city. The broad -white band
on the right is the flood plain of the river Rimac
known the life there every Peruvian dreams of Lima and
longs to return to it. With its electric cars, its attractive
restaurants, its well-kept shops and busy people, it is a
modem city of great interest and well deserves its place
in the affections of the Peruvians.
As in all Spanish-American cities, the central plaza,
an open square in the heart of the town, is a matter of
great pride to the people, and is usually kept scrupulously

THE COASTAL DESERT OF CHILE AND PERU 107
clean and as beautiful as the resources of the town permit.
Here the people congregate on evenings when the band
plays, and promenade in great numbers. This is every
where a very important and to the visitor a most inter
esting social event. The plaza is also well lighted, as in
every town of importance, and is flanked by public build
ings and churches, and the. largest shops and hotels. It
is a favorite meeting place for friends and an excellent
observation place from which to view the frequent reli
gious processions and military and civic parades.
The Highest Mountain Railway in the World. At
Lima we become aware of the second great industrial
interest of Peru. Next to agriculture in wealth-producing
power is the mining industry. The mines of Peru are
rich and numerous, and it is at Lima that the business
of the mines centers. From here too are exported the
products of Cerro de Pasco (Fig. 66), one of the richest
and most famous mines in Peru. To reach these mines
from Lima one passes over what is perhaps the most
remarkable railroad in the world,' the celebrated Oroya
line. Its construction was one of the great engineeririg
feats of the nineteenth century, and a journey over it is
a novelty in railway travel.
The train climbs slowly up the Rimac valley and from
the cars one looks out over beautiful irrigated orchards,
gardens, and farms (Fig. 52). Soon the train enters the
mountains, the grade steepens, the irrigated farms dis
appear, bare rock and mountain slope come into view.
The mountains become more and more rugged; the
train rumbles over bridges, roars through tunnels almost
without number, climbs worm-like along steep mountain
sides where one may look down thousands of feet into
the adjacent valleys, and at last reaches an elevation of
15,585 feet, the- highest point on any railway in the

io8 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
world. Profound chasms and inaccessible mountain peaks
succeed each other so rapidly in the view that it is with
difficulty one realizes that man is able to conquer such a
wilderness of rock. Its builder, Henry B. Meiggs, has
been called the king of railway constructors, and a ride
over the Oroya railway convinces one that he well deserves.
the title.
The Mines of Cerro de Pasco. The Cerro de Pasco
mines (Fig. 66) are owned and operated by Americans.-
Electric lights are installed throughout, the machinery is
the very latest and best, and skillful engineers are em
ployed. But were they not so rich it would be impossible
to operate them. The high cost of transportation over
a difficult road, the importation of machinery from
distant countries, and the scarcity of workmen combine ,
to make their operation expensive. To all these diffi
culties is added the effects of the high altitude upon the
workmen. At this great elevation (14,280 feet) the
atmosphere is so thin that at each breath one draws in
only half as much air as at sea level. The effect is soroche,
or mountain sickness, marked by headache, dizziness,
and nausea. Some people become accustomed to it to
a certain degree, and others cannot remain even for a
week. But the metals found here in such abundance
are desired in the world's shops and factories and, in
spite of all these difficulties, men find it profitable to
work the mines. Each year they produce large quanti
ties of copper, and silver, besides smaller amounts of tin
and gold.
A Railway across Peru. The port of Mollendo south
of Callao is second in importance in Peru, and is the
terminus of the great railway that crosses the coastal
desert (Fig. 53) and the Andes Mountains and con
nects La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, with the sea. Like

THE COASTAL DESERT OF CHILE AND PERU 109
the Oroya railway, this line is a great piece of engineer
ing work. It crosses a belt of desert country, and when

Fig. 53.

White sand drifts in the desert of Atacama near Mollendo,
southern Peru >

this part of it was being built all water and food had to
be brought to the workmen and the animals; it traverses
a lofty and rugged line of volcanic peaks' and a high,
plateau, reaching an elevation of 14,666 feet at^Crucero,
Alto; it connects at Puno and Guaqui, two ports on Lake;
Titicaca, with steamers that 'sail the loftiest large lake;
in the world; it follows a most ^difficult and tortuous
course and was constructed at the expense of many lives,
for to the heat of the 'desert was added the cold and
snow and mountain sickness of the highlands.
For twenty years (1872-1892) the Southern Railway of:
Peru was the only railway outlet of Bolivian commerce.
It is still one of the most important commercial routes

no SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

in that country. Over it are shipped to Mollendo a good
part of the tin, copper, and silver of the mines, the wool
of the flocks of llamas and sheep, and rubber, cacao, and
hides from the eastern forests and grass lands of Bolivia
and Peru. It is by this route that machinery for the
mines and railways, clothing of all sorts for both whites
and Indians, candles for private houses as well as
for Catholic cathedrals and churches, canned goods for
travelers as well as for the .city dwellers, lumber
for; houses^ drugs, and other goods are conveyed to
Bolivia and to the cities of southern Peru — Arequipa,
Juliaca, Puno, Cuzco.
A Quarrel over a Rich Desert. From Mollendo it is a
short sail southward to Arica/the port of .Tacna, in the,
northernmost province of Chile. Formerly Peru owned
Tacna, but in the war of 1879-1883 between Chile and;
Peru the Peruvians were defeated, and since that time:
Chile has occupied it. The conquered territory was to

Courtesy of W. D. Eoyce
Fig. 54. Home in western Peru, where it almost never rains

THE COASTAL DESERT OF CHILE AND PERU ill
be returned to Peru after the lapse of some years on
condition that a promised test vote by the inhabitants
should show a majority of people in the region to be
Peruvians. This has not been done. Chile has not kept
her promise, and the result is constant friction between
the two nations and; every likelihood of another war.'
A traveler once landed -at Mollendo, climbed the steep
slope to the customhouse, arid there found his'Vay
blocked by an angry crowd gathered around a wild^eyed
speaker, who now read from a newspaper, now. shouted
curses and imprecations to his listeners. The traveler
found he was telling about the cruel treatment some
Peruvians had received at IqUique, Chile,, A mob had
storied their houses and so frightened them that they had
taken the first steamer for Peru. Each time the speaker
stopped for breath the crowd shouted, "Long live Peru! "
and "Down with Chile! " The dock laborers caught the
excitement, and when the next Chilean steamer came
into port they refused to unload her cargo, with the
result that she sailed away to Valparaiso with freight
that had been dispatched to Mollendo.
The desert region that is the cause of all this trouble
might seem, on account of its heat and aridity, to have'
no attraction for any nation, but 'a little study shows
that it borders the great nitrate province of Tarapaca,
once a part of Peru and a source of valuable nitrate of
soda. As soon as the great beds -of soda and borax
were discovered each nation became eager to get the
larger share of what,., waS'^^Sef ore thought to be' waste'
land. Dis^uies,*over old treaties and badly marked
boundaries arose, and finally a ruinous war was waged
with the result -that not only Tarapaca but also the bor
dering provinces of Tacna and Arica were lost by Peru.
Just outside the southern edge of the town of Arica is

112 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

El Morro, a five-hundred-foot hill bordered by steep
cliffs, a landmark for passing vessels (Fig. 55). Here
was fought one of
thebattlesof 1880,
in which the Peru
vians were defeat
ed. When the
commander of the
Peruvian forces
saw that the bat
tle was lost, he
spurred his horse
over the edge of
the precipice and
thus leaped to his
death rather than
fall into the hands '
of the Chileans.
El Morro is often
called the Peru
vian Waterloo of the war of 1 880. Upon its crest may still
be seen signs of the fortifications once existing there, and
one may pick up scraps of old muskets and guns and occa
sionally a rusty cartridge. Behind the hill are a number of
graves bearing the names of those who fell fighting for
the land and glory of Peru.
The Steep Coast of Northern Chile. A voyage along
the arid coast of northern Chile is full of interesting
sights of cities and people and natural scenery. From
Arica southward the coast rapidly becomes bolder and
soon presents to the sea a steep face from one to three
thousand feet high. The same steepness also con
tinues below sea level for many thousands of fathoms. ,
For example, near the port of Taltal, Chile (Figs. 3

Fig. 55. The famous hill near Arica, Chile,
where was fought one of the great battles of
the war of ,1879. A Peruvian general is
said to have spurred his horse over the
cliff into the sea when he saw that
the battle was lost

THE COASTAL DESERT OF PERU AND CHILE 1 13

and 57) there is a descent of more than forty thousand
feet in one hundred and seventy-five miles. This .steep
slope from lofty cliff to deep ocean abyss is charac
teristic of almost the entire west coast of South
America. It enables steamers to sail very close inshore,
and from their decks one sees many miles of bold
desert coast. Here a sand drift extends out to the
very brink of a cliff, its particles blowing into the sea;
there a steep shore crumbles beneath the constant
attack of the waves; and wherever a stream waters
a narrow band
of country, a
few huts may
be seen.
Soon, how
ever, we come
to ports and
towns, Pisagua,
Iquique (Fig.
60), Caleta
Buena, Anto-
fagasta (Fig.
62), Tocopilla
(Fig. 56), and
Taltal, which
are not depend
ent upon fertile
valleys or upon
interior oases
(Fig. 58). In
fact, all signs
of water are
absent (Fig.
59). Here are
8

Fig. 56. A mountain railway back of the port
of Tocopilla, Chile. The grades are very
steep and three engines are often re
quired to haul even a short
train of cars

H4 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

no fertile gardens, no line of verdant trees, no life-
giving canals, no signs of agriculture or even of graz
ing. Yet these, are
the busiest and largest
ports of northern
Chile. The cause of,
the peculiar conditions
is found in the nit
rate and borax de
posits of the desert
interior. In the beds
of ancient and now
vanished lakes are
precious salts — nitrate
and borax — that bring
prosperity to an other
wise useless land (Fig.
57)- The Caliche Beds of
the Desert. Nitrate
and borax are not
known to occur in such
abundance anywhere
else on the earth. The
extremely dry climate
of northern Chile pre
serves these minerals
from destruction. If
rain fell the salts would
be quickly dissolved
and washed into the
sea or covered with
mud and other impurities and thus buried or destroyed,
The extreme aridity .which makes the land so barren, is

Fig. 57. A map showing the nitrate
fields and ports of Chile

THE COASTAL DESERT OF PERU AND CHILE 115
seen to have a certain value here, for if people cannot
grow vegetables and cotton, and raise cattle, they can at

Fig. 58. Oasis of Soncor, western border of the Maritime Cordillera,
Chile. Here a small mountain stream terminates near
the edge of the desert of Atacama
least produce soda and borax. The soda occurs in the
form of great beds from a few feet to twenty feet thick,
1 and in many places they are miles in extent. The "raw"
nitrate of soda is called caliche by the natives. Fig. 59
represents one of these nitrate beds of northern Chile.
The high temperature and the extreme aridity result
in a cracked and very uneven surface such as one
may see on the surface of a sun-dried mud-flat in July
or August: During the day these warped and buckled
salt-covered surfaces, called salars, are extremely hot
and as trying to the eyes as snow. Animals as well as
men suffer in crossing them by daylight, and night travel
is , therefore preferred. In one mile of travel upon a
difficult salar a traveler once counted sixty shoes or frag
ments Of shoes torn from the feet of passing mules.
Beside the trail one may frequently see the bleached
bones of some animal which has been overcome by heat

n6 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

or thirst, and left to die in the desert. Nothing grows
upon their parched surfaces; naked as bare rock, the
salars are the dreaded spots of the desert.
The Manufacture of Nitrate of Soda. The process
by which nitrate of soda is refined for commerce is as
simple as it is interesting. The raw caliche is so hard
and resistant that it must be first broken up with dyna
mite exploded in small bored holes from one and a half;
to fifteen feet deep. The explosion sends, up a puff!
of smoke and great masses of caliche. The broken*'
fragments are piled into two-wheeled mule carts, in which'
they are conveyed to small box-like railway cars with aj
dumping device that is easily operated by a lever. As
each car comes abreast of the stone crusher it is dumped
and the blocks of caliche go rattling down into a hopper
that feeds the rollers. The crushed caliche is transferred

fe
HE

f

-„ ' >^»* ,5'H **«*' -. •
>]'¦ '^fc/S •'•,¦>,

% <^|E

Courtesy of the Pan-American Union
Fig. 59. Piles of raw nitrate or " caliche" ready for transportation
to the nitrate works, northern Chile

THE COASTAL DESERT OF PERU AND CHILE 117
to vats, where it is boiled until the nitrate is dissolved.
The water containing the dissolved nitrate is then drawn

Fig. 60. The harbor of Iquique, Chile, the greatest nitrate port
in the world. To this port come ships from almost every
large country. They are mostly sailing ships
that make slow time, for the nitrate ,-
does not require quick delivery
off into huge, shallow drying pans. In the heat and dry
wind and under the clear skies of the desert the water
quickly evaporates, leaving a dazzling white, crystalline
substance, the commercial nitrate of soda. With the
water evaportated a dense mother liquor remains from
which iodine is manufactured.
After the drying out of the nitrate it is put into sacks,
each weighing about two hundred pounds, and shipped by
rail to the nearest port, whence waiting steamers convey
it to distant countries. It is very much in demand in
Europe as the basis of a fertilizer for worn-out gardens.
It is also employed in the manufacture of gunpowder arid
many other kinds of chemical compounds.
So. unusual a commodity as nitrate; is rarely shipped
out of a South American country that uses but little
itself, without paying an export duty or tax, , the burden
of which falls upon the consumer in foreign lands. On

n8 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
each hundredweight of nitrate the government collects
a tax of about twenty-five cents, and since many millions
of hundredweight are shipped out of the country each
year, the total income to the government amounts to the
handsome sum of about thirty million dollars. This
is a large part of the total revenue of Chile and is equal
to a tax of ten dollars upon every man, woman, and child
in the republic. With this revenue Chile supports her
fine army and navy, builds public roads and edifices,
makes surveys and maps of the national territory, arid
pays the salaries of government officials. It relieves
the people from a part of the expense of government but
at the same time makes them careless about government
money, which is often spent wastefully and even wrongly.
People in a Desert without Food. One of the most
remarkable things about the nitrate establishments is
their complete dependence upon the outside world for
everything except nitrate; even the drinking water is
obtained from distant sources. They are set in the midst ,
of so arid a desert that everything required for their
operation must be brought in by sea or over difficult
trails from the Argentine or from Bolivia. This is true
not only of the machinery, the coal, lumber, structural
steel, iron, and glass, but also of the men, mules, hay,
grain, vegetables, flour, and meat. Nowhere else except
in the driest and most forbidding desert could such a
substance as nitrate be found; nowhere else could be
found so difficult a place for building and maintaining
great establishments like the nitrate manufactories.
The nitrate oficina at Central Lagunas, southeast of
Iquique, Chile, derives its fresh water from a pumping
station at Pique, eighteen miles away. It secures a
part of its vegetables from Pica, over fifty miles away.
The officials are chiefly from England. The horses and

THE COASTAL DESERT OF PERU AND CHILE 119
mules, and the hay and grain they consume, are brought
by steamer from southern Chile. The machinery, canned
fruit, and tinned meat are principally from England and
the United States. The workmen are from southern
Chile and Peru. Lumber is brought in schooners from
Oregon, Washington, and Australia.
The number of men employed at a given establishment
is from three or four hundred to a thousand. They live
in houses arranged in regular order about a' central plaza
or a long street of bare sand. The houses are commonly
made of corrugated sheet iron and many are without
floors or windows. This is, in a way, an advantage
on account of the great heat, but it does not always
induce the owners to be as clean as they ought to be.
Their village life is rather dull; a few games, among
which are football and cricket, are sometimes played, but
usually the great heat and the complete absence of
streams, grass, and cool forest or park, forbid all but the
necessary exertions.
The Great Nitrate Ports. The great nitrate exporting
ports, Iquique, Pisagua, and Antofagasta (Fig. 62), and a
half dozen lesser ports as well, have a far more interesting
social and business life than have the nitrate villages.
Iquique, for example, has a population of fifty thousand,
maintains three beautiful plazas, has several good clubs
frequented by Englishmen and Americans, and has
stores and shops where one may buy practically every
thing that can be bought in the ordinary stores of this
country. Its water front presents a very busy scene
(Figs. 60 arid 61), for Iquique is the greatest nitrate port
in the world. The flags of many nations are represented
by the twenty to thirty boats one may always see riding
at anchor in the outer harbor. The ships are of every
variety — three- to five-masted schooners, steamers of

120 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

every size, a few full-rigged ships, and smaller craft in
considerable numbers. The inner harbor is full of

Fig. 6i. The fleet of ships from many countries at the port of
Iquique, Chile, loading nitrate of soda
rowboats owned by men who meet the large steamers
for passengers and baggage and assist travelers from
hotel or steamer. As in all the other coast ports of
South America, they crowd about the incoming steamers
in great numbers, jostling each other and shouting and
gesticulating in, the most violent manner. When they
have secured a passenger they hurry up the gangway,;

THE COASTAL DESERT OF PERU AND CHILE 121
leaving their less fortunate companions to continue the
crowding and the shouting. The scene is a novel one
to the stranger, who, if he does not understand the
language, is rather bewildered than assisted by the
many loud offers of the willing boatmen. At most
ports the number of boats is increased by fruit venders,
who bring out vegetables and fruits of many kinds "for
the passengers.
Iquique is like the interior nitrate villages in being
almost wholly without means for securing food except
by boat and to a very trifling extent by rail. Vege
tables are brought in from Pica, forty miles away, and
water from Matilla through a pipe line thirty-five miles
long. Everything else must be shipped from outside
ports. Until the pipe line to Matilla was completed
even the drinking water had to be brought in by sea
and peddled in carts from door to door. Now it is
provided by the city, to. the great comfort and relief of
all, especially the poorer people.
So completely is the city of Iquique shut in by the
desert, and so dependent is it upon the outside world for
supplies, that in time of war it is easily conquered by sea.
The enemy has only to control the sea to control the food
supply, and by shutting off this supply bring the people
to terms. Furthermore, there are no natural means of
defense for any of these cities; their shore fronts are
exposed, and there is no fertile back country from which
men and supplies may be drawn. In 1880 in the war
between Chile and Peru, and again in 1890 during the
revolution in Chile, the city was taken by sea with scarcely
any trouble whatever. So well aware is Peru that the
sea is the great highway of movement against her old
enemy, Chile, that her statesmen frequently remark that
for every cruiser Chile builds Peru should build two.

122 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
A war between these two nations will always be largely
if not wholly decided by a navy.
Railways that Run up Steep Bluffs. There are many
peculiar difficulties which the towns of this steep coast
must meet on account of their position at the foot of
a bluff several thousand feet high. At Caleta Buena
four railways make a three-thousand-foot descent to
the shore (Fig. 3). Cables are attached to the cars
and engines pull them up or lower them at will. The
situation seems a dangerous one for a railway, but it is
doubtful if more accidents happen here than on ordinary
lines. The machinery is all of very good workmanship
and careful watch is kept of every part. The system is
not unlike that used for making the ascent of Mt. Tom,
Massachusetts, or Pikes Peak in Colorado. Never
theless, one feels a certain aversion to a trip on such a
railway and few passengers enjoy what seems to be so
perilous a ride.
At Pisagua and Antofagasta (Fig. 62), as well as at
Tocopilla, the descent to the shore is made in raviries,
that have been cut deep in the bluff, and the railway
winds in and out in the most tortuous and irregular
manner. For miles there is scarcely more than a few
hundred yards of straight track in a single stretch. The
grade is so steep it requires several hours to make the
ascent with two engines and a short train.
Earthquakes. The picturesque town of Pisagua, Chile,
is typical of the peculiar position of all these coast
towns on a narrow terrace at the foot of a cliff. The
terraces are due to the planing action of the sea when
the land stood somewhat lower than at present. After
uplift occurred the formerly submerged shelf became a
terrace. Such an uplift may mean the slipping of two
blocks of the earth's crust in such a way as to cause a

THE COASTAL DESERT OF PERU AND CHILE 123

shock or jar which makes the ground tremble. The
total amount of the slipping or faulting that has taken
place on the west coast of South America is very great
and is in part the cause of the remarkably steep coast.
The earthquakes that occur as a consequence of such
slipping of blocks of the earth's crust are very frequent
indeed. No one has counted them all, but it is safe to
say that scarcely a week passes without a jar heavy
enough to be felt. Fortunately few of them are dangerous.
At irregular intervals a violent earthquake visits the

Fig. 62. Unloading merchandise at Antofagasta, Chile. As there
are no good natural harbors along this shore, the ocean steamers
anchor some distance from the coast and unload their
cargos into small boats called lighters that are
rowed to the short wharves

124 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
region, sometimes with terrible effects. The solid earth
seems to have become even more restless than the sea.
To the rumble of the quake is added the crash of falling
buildings and the screams of the terrified people. Fire
may break out and add to the horror of the calamity;
and an earthquake wave may come in from the sea,
sweep over the low exposed terrace on which a city
stands, and complete the work of destruction.
In a moment a city may thus be partly destroyed, as
was Valparaiso in 1907, Iquique in i860, and Arica in
1877. In the ruined zone the charred and blackened
facades of the buildings faintly outline the cluttered
streets. Disorder prevails among the terrified people ; the
food supply is destroyed, and there is want and misery.
Only after the lapse of months can the business of the
city proceed as usual. Small wonder that after these
dismal effects are once witnessed the slightest rumble
startles the inhabitants and a heavy jar drives many
of the people into the streets and fields with prayers
and lamentations, fearful lest the walls of their houses
fall and bury them beneath the ruins.
Some Oases of Tarapaca. An excellent view of one
of the larger oases of Tarapaca (Matilla) is shown in
Fig. 63. One of the smaller kind, east of Iquique, is
called the oasis of Monte la Solidad, or "Mount of Soli
tude." It well deserves the name. A single family of
three have their home here, and secure a living from a
small flock of goats, a few vegetables, beans from an
algarrobo tree, and water from a well near by. They
also own a few mules, some sheep, and a dog. The
house is made of bark and twigs and a few pieces of
lumber. It is twenty-five miles from their rough home
to the nearest neighbors. A more isolated spot could
hardly be found.

(-s.iNgniJ.NiiA I.
C. Suo Hoquo
C, Branco

Plate, V. Mean January temperature

jo" to jo' 70" to i
jjo1, to 70 J So" to go"

Plate VI. Mean July temperature

THE COASTAL DESERT OF PERU AND CHILE 125
Since the life of each oasis depends upon a water supply,
every inhabitant is concerned about the storage and use
of water. If the village dam breaks or high floods sweep
down the valley and overwhelm the ditches and gardens,
the condition of the people becomes very sad. Supplies
must come over long and difficult trails. The poor can
not buy what they have no money to pay for. Small
wonder that water and streams are objects of reverence
to the Indian dweller of the oasis. Although he has
been taught the forms of a new religion (Catholic), he
thinks of the old meanings, and the getting Of food is
still his chief object in life. His prayers are pathetically
simple: he asks for full rivers and bountiful harvests
that his daily bread may not fail.
In some of the oases the ordinary water supply is not
sufficient for the needs of the farmers. Deep holes or
pits are then dug, on whose floors vegetables and grains;
are grown, which are not only shaded most of the day
but also reach the ground water and thus use moisture
that would otherwise go to waste. One may even see
trees growing in the bottoms of the larger' pits. The '
digging of these great holes requires a vast amount of
hard labor, but the desert farmer must have water,
and if it will not come to him he must go to it. This is
a common practice in deserts. In Egypt and Algeria it
is well known and has been followed for centuries. It
represents an interesting phase of man's efforts to make
"the desert . . . rejoice and blossom like the rose."
Each town has its patron saint, supposed to guard
some special interest of the place. For instance, Saint
Andrew is the patron saint of Pica, where excellent wine
is produced. San Isidro is the patron saint of the farmers
at Canchones. Sometimes the patron saint of one village
is taken to visit that of another village to ask alms. Then

126 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

the wax figure of the visiting saint is carried at the head
of a procession which marches across the desert to the next
village, where it is met and welcomed. The united
processions,marching to
the sound of
fife and drum,
enter the
church and
close the rites
with solemn
prayers and
chants. From the
desert the ap
pearance of an
oasis town after
the heat and
fatigue of a
long, dusty ride
is distinctly
inviting. The
neat squares
of the vegetable
gardens, the rows of refreshing orchard trees bordering the
canals, the life-giving stream, and the clustering houses
of the villages combine to niake an unusual picture.
Upon some hilltop near each desert town a light is
usually kept burning. Without it the traveler would
find night travel difficult, since so many of the trails are
half buried by drifting sand. The oasis of Matilla,
a cluster of houses and palm trees, is shown in Fig. 63
with its tower light on the extreme left. The white
band in the middle distance is a trail fifteen miles

Fig. 63. The prosperous oasis of Matilla, desert
of Tarapacd, Chile. The while band in the
background to the right is the desert
trail. The tower light at the left is
for the traveler who crosses the
desert at night

THE COASTAL DESERT OF PERU AND CHILE 127
away. In the extreme background are the coast ranges.
Where the People Pray for Rain. The southern end
of the west-coast desert is visited by an occasional" rain
storm in the winter or spring. Like the desert of southern
California, its rainfall depends entirely upon the season,
no rain falling during the summer and only a few showers
during the spring. These showers increase in number
southward, until finally, within the belt of the westerly
winds, rains occur every two or three days and a certain
amount of vegetation is found. The people eagerly'
watch for showers and in the springtime ask every desert
traveler from the south if he has heard of rain. If he
reports that rain has fallen in some valley near the south
ern end of the desert the people farther north are hopeful.
They, too, rriay be lucky enough to have a shower.
Besides the inconstant rains, which cannot be depended
upon for a regular water supply, the inhabitants make
use of the streams fed by rains and melting snows in
the mountains. The extent of the winter snowfall in the
mountains determines the amount of water the people
will have for irrigation during the following summer (Fig.
58). Hence they watch the mountain snow with great
interest. If it comes far down the mountain sides and
whitens, them below the usual level there is the greatest
rejoicing, for the abundant snows of winter mean rich
harvests in summer. If the snows are light the people
are discouraged. There will be little water for irrigation,
the gardens and fields will suffer, and many of the people
pray for rain. But when the snows are too heavy, or
melt too rapidly, great floods come down the mountain
gorges. These spread out over the fields an infertile
deposit of coarse gravel and tear up dams and ditches.
Sometimes the damage from flood is as great as that
from drought.

CHAPTER VII
THE HIGHLAND DWELLERS OF BOLIVIA
AND PERU
The Switzerland of South America. The Indians of
the lofty table-land of Bolivia live on farms far higher
than those of any other large group of people in the
world. For this reason Bolivia is sometimes called the
"Switzerland of South America," but it would be more
nearly correct to call Switzerland the Bolivia of Europe,
for the elevations at which people live in Switzerland are
far below those of Bolivia. Among the Alps the farms
are in few cases above six thousand feet; in Bolivia almost
all of them are above that height, and most of them are be
tween seven and twelve thousand feet. Indeed, one finds
many farms at elevations well above thirteen thousand
feet, while the stone huts of mountain shepherds have
been found at seventeen thousand one hundred feet, or just
below the snow line, the highest habitations in the world.
These facts are well shown in the two maps, Fig. 64
and Fig. 65; Fig. 64 represents the elevations of Bolivia.
It shows that the southwestern third of the country con
tains all the high land while the northeastern two thirds
are almost wholly tropical plains. Now in most countries
the greater part of the people live on flat, fertile plains;
they avoid the mountains. But in Bolivia there are
almost no people on the plains, and in some places there
is a dense population in the mountains. This is because
the climate of the highlands is cool and that of the plains
is hot, and, further, because the mineral wealth of the
country is in the highlands (Fig. 66). If people wish
silver, copper, and tin, they must go up into the mountains
for them and to places at such great elevations that life
is decidedly uncomfortable because of the cold and the
128

HIGHLAND DWELLERS OF BOLIVIA AND PERU 129

I Below 1^640 feet
V?\ 1,640 to 4.Q20 feet
\4fy20 to 13,120 feet
Above 13,120 feet

Fig.. 64. A relief map of Bolivia

mountain sickness. Thus the province of Frias, in the de
partment of Potosi, has nearly forty people to each square
mile, although the elevation of the principal city, Potosi
(Fig. 67), is more than thirteen thousand feet, decidedly
too great for comfortable living.
9

130 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

Fig. 65. A map showing the density of population in
Bolivia
In the Nevados de Araca southeast of La Paz are mines
nearly seventeen thousand feet above sea level where the
cold is intense, the ground often covered with snow, and
where a frost occurs nearly every night. The strongest
engineers cannot work long at this great elevation, and

HIGHLAND DWELLERS OF BOLIVIA AND PERU 13 1

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
Fig. 66. A silver mine that enriched the Spanish centuries ago,
Cerro de Pasco, Peru
after a few months they are obliged to go to lower places
and rest. • The workmen are Indians who are accustomed

132 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
to live at elevations from ten thousand to fifteen thousand
feet, yet even they suffer from the effects of the rarefied

¦Sri'*™*™ * ¦ 1 * ' 

'¦ ¦'--'¦.;

Fig. 67. Potosi, Bolivia, one of the loftiest large towns in the world
air, and it is often with difficulty that enough laborers
can be secured to operate the highest mines. The Indians
lessen the disagreeable sensations of mountain sickness
by the incessant use of the coca leaf, from which cocaine
is manufactured. The leaf is chewed, after being mixed
with ashes, and the effect is to enable the Indian to get
along for a time with less food, to endure mountain sick-'
ness or to avoid it, and to so numb his senses that he
does not feel the cold.
The Lofty Cities of Bolivia. The mines, the climate,
and the trade routes combine to hold the population of
Bolivia to the highlands. The extent to which this high
land population has grown as compared with that of
the plains may be seen from the map (Fig. 65) . Within the

HIGHLAND DWELLERS OF BOLIVIA AND PERU 133
cross-lined area there is a population density of twenty
or more to the square mile. This cross-lined area may
be seen, by reference to Fig. 64, to lie entirely in the
highlands. The blank white area of the eastern plains
has a population density less than one to the square
mile. These facts may be stated in a slightly different
way by saying that eighty per cent of the people (high
land dwellers) live upon fifteen per cent of the area and
twenty per cent of the , people (lowland dwellers) live
upon eighty-five per cent of the area. One may also
gain a clear idea of the great heights at which the people
of Bolivia dwell by noting that among the one hundred
and fifty-one important cities and towns four are above
14,000 feet elevation, twenty-six above 13,000 feet,
seventy-three above 12,000 feet, and seventy-seven, or
more than half, are above 11,000 feet. The highest
town of all is Aullagas, which is at the incredibly lofty
elevation of 15,700 feet above the sea.
The Irrigated Gardens. The highland dweller of
Bolivia who depends upon the soil for a living must learn
the art of using water like his brother on the arid west
coast in the desert of Atacama, for large parts of the
table-land of Bolivia, while not so dry as the coast desert,
are dry enough to require irrigation. From hundreds Of
mountain brooks and rivers the people turn water out
over their fields and in many places transform the land
into gardens.
About Cochabamba and in the fertile Cliza valley
near by there are miles upon miles of green fields and
gardens which stand out in sharp contrast to the brown
and yellow desert about them. The same features may
be seen along the edge of the plateau south of Oruro.
Every mountain and plateau stream has been carefully
directed out upon the fields. of rich alluvium that border

134 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
the edge of the plateau. Here one may see within short
distances of each other all the kinds of life found in the
country. In the background of the photograph (Fig. 68)
may be seen the desert mouritains with rich tin and silver
mines; at the foot of the mountains are the 'valleys, and
upon their sides are the irrigated farms of the people who
till the soil for a living, while out beyond the reach of the
life-giving streams is the desert, where may be found only
a few dry plants and the scattered huts of the shepherds
with their flocks of llamas and sheep (Figs. 71 and 76)..
The Terraced Alluvial Fans of the Plateau. The care

Fig. 68. A terraced alluvial fan in the great Bolivian plateau,
near Cochabamba. Note the thick walls and the thatched roofs
of the houses

HIGHLAND DWELLERS OF BOLIVIA AND PERU 13 S

and industry of the highland farmer are well shown in
the terraced fields that one may see in many parts of this

Fig. 69. Looking across the terraced slopes at Huaynacotas
in the Cotahuasi valley
roof of the western world. The terraces are well-shown
in Fig. 69, which shows hillsides near Cotahuasi, Peru.
Similar terraces may be seen in hundreds if not thousands
of places throughout highland Bolivia and Peru. They
may always be found where water and good soil are
found together but where the slope is so steep that the
water would furrow it and cut the fields to- pieces if
terraces with flat fops were not made.
The running water of '"the irrigation ditches is not
always used merely for the crops. If there is enough for
the fields and to spare, a mill is built, and the water turns
a wheel for grinding the barley, com, and wheat. If

136 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
there is plenty of good soil in one place and not much
water, more terraces may be built than can be supplied
with water. It may happen in this case that near by is a
stream running to waste because there is no land that
can be tilled. Then the clever farmer constructs a long
irrigation ditch which turns this way and that along the
valley; in some places the stream that flows through it
furnishes power to a mill wheel, or slips through a tunnel
cut in the solid rock, or runs smoothly in a viaduct built
over a stone arch. The labor required to build all these
works is great, but water in the desert is also very valuable.
The deep, rich soil and the hot sun produce abundant crops
if only enough water is supplied, and the desert farmer
who terraces his fields and brings his water over long and
difficult routes is always richly repaid for his work.
A Plateau without Trees. The farmers of Bolivia in
general live together in small villages' and go out from
them to till their farms and gardens, though one may see
many an isolated hut far from any village. The appear
ance of one of these villages is well shown in Fig. 70,
a photograph taken in western Bolivia — a cluster of the
most curious houses, with walls of hardened mud, floors
of earth, and benches of stone. But little wood is used
in the houses or even for furniture because it is very
scarce on the arid plateau and must be brought over
such long distances and at such great expense that poor
people can afford only the smallest amounts. Even an
ordinary ox whip with a plain wooden handle costs more
than the well-braided lash of cowhide, cattle being numer
ous on parts of the plateau but wood a luxury. In the
forested Juntas valley of eastern Bolivia (Fig. 123) one may
see Indians bringing cedar planks on their backs to Cocha
bamba, more than a week's journey on foot over a steep
and difficult trail. The cedar is brought in for making

HIGHLAND DWELLERS OF BOLIVIA AND PERU 137

tables, chairs, and benches for the townspeople. In
some, of the houses one sees many curious things used

Fig. 70.

in the eastern Andes of Bolivia

in place of wood. Reeds, bamboo, cornstalks, and even
sugar cane are sometimes built into the roofs and walls.
In some places a giant cactus is cut down and its hard
interior split into a kind of wood used in place of boards
for the door frames and thresholds of the houses.
On the roof of the highland dweller's hut there is
commonly a thick covering of grass or straw. The thick
ness of the roof covering is less to keep out the rain than
the cold, for the rains are few in number and rarely heavy,
while everywhere the night temperature is keen and the
winter cold intense, especially in the higher villages.
To keep out the cold . the houses of the plateau vil
lagers of Bolivia are commonly without windows.. The

138 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
door is the only way by which light may enter, and
the interiors are generally gloomy and dirty. When

Fig. 7 1 . A scene in western Bolivia. The white band is a plain of
salt. About it are hill slopes covered with a thin sprinkling
of grass and bushes. The place is about 13,000 feet
above the sea
cooking is done the smoke is allowed to escape as best it
can through the open door. As a result the walls and
roof are blackened and the whole interior filled with
smoke. Even fowls are sometimes kept in the houses
and roost in the sleeping rooms of their owners.
When a plateau Indian wishes to build a house he stirs
up mud and water as if he were about to make a huge mud
pie. Then he adds straw or grass, tramping the whole
with his bare feet until it is thoroughly mixed. The wind
and the sun are then allowed to dry the mud, which is
first put into molds. The great blocks of dried mud are
used like stone or brick in building the walls of a house.
The plateau has little wood. So when an Indian
needs rafters for the roof, or frames for the door of his

HIGHLAND DWELLERS OF BOLIVIA AND PERU 139

house, he goes in search of cactus like the cordon of
Fig. 72. From a dead trunk he strips off the spiny outer
layer and exposes a thick, porous, and hollow inner layer
which is easily split into any desired shape. If cacti
cannot be found, he must carry wood for long distances
from the eastern forests.
The Highland Shepherd. Ranged on all sides of the
plateau villages are the corrals in which are kept at night
the flocks of llamas, alpacas, and sheep that graze upon
the mountain pastures. Their owners drive them out
during the day and travel all over the higher mountain
valleys in search of
food. In the most
bleak and lofty
situations isolated
corrals are built for
those shepherds who
take their flocks, out
for days at a time or
for the caravans of
llamas that engage in
trade from place to
place, carrying flour,
wood, millet, barley,
salt, and wool. As the
shepherd drives his
sheep or llamas along
he clucks and whistles
and with a sling of
twisted wool throws
stones at them to keep
them going in the
right direction.
While wandering with

Fig. 72. Tree cactus from which
wood is obtained by the moun
tain Indians

140 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
his flock he generally carries a bunch of wool on his
arm or at his waist, and spends his spare time indus
triously spinning the wool into yarn for the thick blankets,
cap, stockings, and coat that he must wear to keep out
the cold (Fig. 77). It is a lonely life that the shepherd
leads, often without shelter except the corner of some
corral, without good food for days, and far from any
village. But his flock is to him a great necessity. With
out it he would have neither meat nor clothing for his
family (Fig. 76).
The Camel of the Plateau. The llama, the almost uni
versal beast of burden among the plateau Indians, is a
peculiar animal. It is half camel, half sheep, in its
general appearance. Its short body, cloven hoof, and
stubby tail are very like those of the sheep, but it has
long legs, a long neck, and a head like that of the camel.
It is especially like the camel in its patient ways, stupid
stare, and ludicrous face. When one rides through a
flock of llamas some become curious and walk up and stare
into one's face in a very funny way. If an attempt is
made to drive them off they spit in a half scornful man
ner, and with a very dignified air walk solemnly away.
Many llamas that are driven in caravans are scrawny
and mean looking, but those that are kept for their
wool and meat and pastured in the watered oases have
much beauty of color and grace of carriage. In the
shops of the large towns are small models of llamas made
of silver wire, and a llama is figured on the Bolivian coat
of arms and stamped on the silver coins (Fig. 73).
Food is rarely carried for the llama even across the
desert wastes. The poor animal must hunt its own food,
and this while it is carrying a burden and traveling over
a hard trail. But its owner drives it along very slowly,
usually not more than fifteen miles a day, and thus allows

HIGHLAND DWELLERS OF BOLIVIA AND PERU 141
it to wander from bush to bush and pick a living on the
way.. Neither is it loaded with too great a burden.
Although it will carry seventy-five pounds day after day
if it can secure a good supply of food, it is seldom obliged
to carry more than fifty pounds. The llama is an awk
ward animal to control, for it is al
ways getting off the trail, and will not
heed an ordinary call, though it answers
to the whistle of the Indian driver.
Fig. 74 shows a caravan of llamas
just starting from a railway with flour
that has been shipped from Oregon
by steamer and several hundred miles FlG; 73, A. B?lman
J ten-cent piece
across the desert of Atacama, the west
ern Andes, and the great central plateau of Bolivia. Now
it is starting from Challapata on a caravan trip across the
eastern Andes to the mountain basin in which lies Sucre,
one of the four largest cities in the country.
Moving a Piano on Muleback. Think of the expense
of securing supplies for a great city in this roundabout
way! The country is without manufactures and must
buy its cloth, shoes, machinery, and even its pianos from
either Europe or the' United States. Think of moving
a piano to Sucre! Yet this is done. The great box in
which it is carried is fasteried to four mules, two in front
and two behind, and away goes the procession of drivers
and beasts — sometimes across lofty mountains — with a
piano that has already journeyed from four to twelve
thousand miles by sea and land. Every night the mules
are relieved of their load; every morning it is strapped
to their backs again. In this laborious way it is at last
delivered at an expense which only the wealthiest can
afford. A piano in Sucre costs more than twice as much
as a piano in the, United States.

142 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

The Wild Vicuna and Guanaco. Closely related to
the llamas are the alpacas, the vicunas, and the guanacos
of the plateau region of Bolivia and Peru. The alpaca
is a domesticated animal and is found chiefly in south
ern and central Peru and western Bolivia. In general
appearance it resembles the llama, though it has shorter
legs and both legs and body are covered with wool. It
is never used as a beast of burden but is kept in flocks
that spend their time in grazing. Its flesh is used for
food, but its chief service to its Indian owner is its fleece,
which, if pure white, is especially valuable for both rugs
and clothing. Alpaca wool is very fine and thick, and
is highly prized.
The Indians hunt the wild vicuna and guanaco with
dogs and powerful rifles, for one cannot get near these fleet

Fig. 74. Llama caravan at Challapata, Bolivia, about to start
with a load of Oregon flour for Sucre, over a week's journey
to the east

HIGHLAND DWELLERS OF BOLIVIA AND PERU 143

beasts without a favorable wind and under cover of a
screen of brush. The hunters sometimes stalk the vicuna,
a rnethod that requires
great skill and crafti
ness, for it is one of the
wariest game animals
known. At the slight
est sound it scents the
air and with keen eyes
searches every spot for
an enemy. At the first
sign of danger it is up !
and away at great speed
to escape in some deep
ravine or on the sum
mit of a lofty ridge.
In Bolivia these animals
live in the loftiest
valleys among the
mountains during the
summer, but in winter
they come down to the
lower pastures that are \
free from snow.
A Declining Tribe of
Fishermen. Besides
the vicuna, guanaco,
a species of deer, and

Fig. 75.
the vizcacha

Courtesy of W. D. Boyce
Moving day in La Paz, Bolivia

a small rodent,
there are few game animals in all this great plateau
region. In fact, they are so few that the Indians as
a whole have apparently never lived in the purely
hunting stage. They are farmers who depend chiefly
upon the soil and not upon the chase for a living. In
the whole region there is but one hunting and fishing tribe.

144 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
Fig. 78 shows a fisherman on Lake Titicaca, a member
of the tribe called Uros, now much smaller in numbers
than formerly. They live mostly in the reed swamps
of the Desaguadero River, the outlet of Lake Titicaca,
and fish on floating rafts of reeds and brush. They also
tend flocks and cultivate small farms on the shores
of the lake and thus earn their living in several ways.
Their boats are made of straw and are fitted with light

Fig. 76.

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.

Washing and drying wool from the Andean table-lands
for foreign trade, Arequipa, Peru

HIGHLAND DWELLERS OF BOLIVIA AND PERU 145
bamboo masts and straw sails. Since the straw becomes
water-soaked after a time, the boat must every once

Fig. 7-7. Blanket weaving among plateau Indians
in a while be drawn up on the land arid dried out.
The Steamers of Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca, on
which many of these curious craft are found, has the
distinction of being the loftiest large lake in the world.
Its surface is nearly two and a half miles above the level
of the sea. It is one hundred and forty miles from end
to end and about sixty miles wide. Although the water
is not salty it is of rather poor quality. Lake Titicaca
discharges through, the Desaguadero ("the Outlet")
River, which in turn empties into Lake Poop6, a very
bitter salt lake one hundred and fifty miles to. the south.
In spite of its great height above the sea, Lake Titicaca
is one of the valuable lakes of the world. At. its western
end-is the port of Puno (Fig. 79) ; at its eastern end is
Guaqui. These are the two lake terminals for the rail
way from the seacoast to La Paz, the capital of Bolivia,
and between, them ply a line of steamers. The boats
were made in Scotland at one of the great shipbuilding
10 - \

146 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
yards of Glasgow and shipped to Lake Titicaca in pieces.
After a long ocean voyage and a journey by rail from
the coast, the pieces were put together at Puno to make
a steamer. Nearly all the supplies of northern Bolivia are now
brought over Lake Titicaca to La Paz. The material
for the new railway between La Paz and Oruro was also
brought over the lake. We may therefore say that a
railway was carried across Lake Titicaca by steamer.
The ties and telegraph poles were brought from Oregon
and Washington, the steel rails were shipped from
Pittsburgh, and the engines were manufactured in
Philadelphia. The White Salt Plains. South of Lakes Titicaca and
Poop6 are the great salt plains of the high plateau of
Bolivia. Into them drain streams from a large area, the
great interior basin of the central Andes. During the wet

Fig. 78. Uros Indian making a reed canoe on the border of the great
reed swamp of the Desaguadero, twelve miles south of Lake
Titicaca. The rope with which he is binding the reed
bundle is made of grass. Note the cattle far out
in the swamp in the background

HIGHLAND DWELLERS OF BOLIVIA AND PERU 147
season they are partially covered with water and are
then all but impassable. In the dry seasori they may be

Fig. 79. Port of Puno, western end of Lake Titicaca. It was here
that the first steamer on the lake was built after being carried
in pieces on the backs of mules and burros over the
western Andes
crossed by any one of a dozen different trails. Their white
dazzling surfaces stretch out for scores of miles as a per
fectly smooth plain, reflecting the sunlight from thousands
of salt crystals. Standing upon the western margin of
the plain at sunrise and looking across it toward the east
one gains a most impressive and beautiful view. From
the plain a certain amount of salt is obtained that is
shipped in small cakes to mariy parts of Bolivia; but its
wide expanses are difficult to cross and its great wastes
furnish neither pasture nor wood for man's use.
The traveler across these salt plains about the borders
of the lakes must pick his way with considerable care.
In many places the surface consists merely of a crust of salt
below which lies water; or the alluvium about the borders

148 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

(Fig. 80) is honeycombed by the vizcacha, an animal some
what like the prairie dog in its general habits. Upon these
treacherous surfaces the mules and horses often find it
extremely difficult to make headway without stumbling
and throwing their riders to the ground. In the full glare
of noonday the white surfaces are very trying to the eyes,
and the many whirlwinds that sweep across the plains
raise aloft great columns of dust, often to a height of
hundreds of^feet.
The Shy Mountain Folk of Western Bolivia. The'
people upon the western border of the great salt plains
of ^Bolivia are shut off from easy communication with
the rest of the country. If they wish to reach the desert
oases on the west they must cross the western Andes; if
they wish to reach the people on the east they must cross

Fig. 80. The basin of Lake Huasco, Maritime Andes, on
boundary between Chile and Bolivia. The dark band in the
distance is the lake, and the white areas around it are
the salt beds that are formed as the lake
gradually dries up

HIGHLAND DWELLERS OF BOLIVIA AND PERU 149
the salt plains, which are without water or food for man
or beast. Until a few years ago white men had never
been seen in some of their villages. When the first cara
van arrived the people were afraid, and ran and hid them
selves. Late in the afternoon when they returned they'
hid behind bushes and rocks and watched the strangers
until sunset. In the dark they crept toward the tent,.
where a fire had been built, and at last one man ventured
to speak. Then the strangers gave him money for the
barley their mules had eaten and exchanged some of their
biscuits for eggs and firewood, and asked many questions
about the people and the country. These mountain
folk regard a stranger with great suspicion and refuse to
sell or give him anything. If he wishes a. fowl or a
sheep for food he must take it and afterwards pay the
owner what he thinks is fair. Tf<he asks for it he will
be told that there is nothing. Since no minerals have
been discovered in the surrounding mountains, and
since the region is not on one of the great trade routes
from the interior, these people have never been dis
turbed by white men and still lead the Hf e their ancestors
lived hundreds of years ago.
A Cold Land in the Tropics^. One of the most serious
defects of the great highland region of Peru and Bolivia
is the lack of timber or a proper substitute for it. It" is
disappointing to find so little fuel in a land so cold at
night. The traveler who visits Cuzco or La Paz in June
and July (the southern winter) may find the weather
very cold indeed, the people wearing overcoats in the
houses, Indians standing about shivering, and yet no
fires in the houses, no stoves or furnaces, no means at
all for warmth or comfort. The reason is not difficult
to find. There is little coal in Bolivia — none has yet been
mined in the country — and there is practically no wood

150 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
within reach of the people of the plateau that can be used
as fuel. Coal and refined oil, if used at all, must be
brought from the United States, or coal may be imported
from Wales or England, but at such expense that few
people can afford them. Coal in the form of briquettes
is brought in for the railway engines and for some of the
engines of the mines, but it is exceedingly expensive.
It costs at least four times as much as in England, or
from fifteen to twenty dollars a ton.
Cactus, Moss, and Dung for Fuel. In the absence of
ordinary wood and with expensive coal and oil some rather
curious kinds of fuel are employed. First of all are the
dry and resinous tola bushes (Fig. 80) . These are pulled
up roots and all, piled into bundles, loaded upon animals,
and brought often for long distances into the principal
towns. Donkeys and llamas bearing the tola brush are
driven right into the kitchens of houses and hotels, where
their loads are removed. The tola makes a very hot and
lasting fire, but the odor of the burning brush is disa
greeably strong and fills the kitchen with blinding smoke
and dirt. The traveler in the desert and the mountains
often finds this bush his only means for making a fire.
Sometimes the supply gives out in the country imme
diately about a mine or a town and then it must be
gathered at greater and greater distances up to twenty
or thirty miles.
Instead of baking bread frequently in an oven as we
do, many South Americans of the coastal region and
the mountains bake it only once every week or two in
an out-of-door oven, dome-shaped as in Fig. 81. The
lower part is made of adobe bricks and the upper part
of a mass of adobe rounded off to a smooth summit.
Into this oven are piled brush and wood gathered from
far and wide, and a great fire built, until the oven is

HIGHLAND DWELLERS OF BOLIVIA AND PERU 1 5 1

thoroughly heated. When the fire has heated the oven
it is raked out, the ashes are removed, and the loaves

Fig. 8i. An out-of-door adobe oven for bread baking. These ovens are
much like those built for domestic use by the early settlers in America
are then put inside to bake. This is somewhat after the
manner of the old-fashioned brick ovens of America, in
use many years ago, except that the latter were generally
built into the fireplaces.
Poor as the tola is compared with coal and wood it is
still the best substitute that the country affords and will
long remain the principal fuel supply of the common
people. When the railways to the eastern plains are
completed some of the abundant wood of that section
may be brought more cheaply to the plateau, where it will
find a market in the principal towns. Even with these
railways, however, the poorest people will still have to
depend upon the cheaper sources of fuel.
Another source of fuel for the people of Bolivia is
unknown to us in this country — the moss that grows
in lofty places in the mountains. It occurs in masses in
some places three or four feet in diameter, and roughly

152 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
resembles a huge mushroom. The fuel value of this
moss is due to the amount of resin it contains, and as
the amount of resin in it increases with the altitude, the
Indians who make a business of gathering it often visit
extremely high places. One may see them collecting
moss up near the limit of the mountain snows, sixteen
thousand to seventeen thousand feet above sea level.
Great amounts of llama dung, called taquia, are also
gathered from the corrals and sold for fuel, just as in
Tibet the dung of the yak is widely used. When mixed
with moss and a little coal it burns readily and yields
an astonishingly large amount of heat. On our own
western plains "buffalo chips" were for years a source
of fuel.
This combination of llama dung, moss, and tola brush
is in many cases the only fuel employed at a mine far
from the railway and the seacoast, a fact which empha
sizes the general lack of fuel in Bolivia and the degree to
which it hinders the growth of the country. The absence
of fuel would not be felt so much if the abundant water
power were used. If dams were built in steep mountain
streams, and turbines and dynamos installed, elec
tricity could easily be developed which would light
Bolivia's cities and run her railway trains and do all the
work of her shops. It will not be long before the people
wake up to this fact and begin to use the water of the
hundreds of mountain streams, many of which now run
to waste.
La Paz. Perhaps there is no greater surprise in all
South America than that which greets the traveler who
for the first time sees La Paz. In approaching the city
the train runs over a dry, treeless, and lofty plateau
that stretches away mile .upon mile north and south.
Toward the east and on the rim of the plateau is a

HIGHLAND DWELLERS OF BOLIVIA AND PERU 153
magnificent line of snowy peaks. Suddenly, as if by
magic, the whole world appears chariged. One arrives at
the brink of a vast amphitheater, with steep walls descend
ing over a thousand feet to the city of La Paz (Fig. 83).
It is as if the city were in the bottom of a vast bowl
and the traveler on the rim of it. In the bright sun
light and clear sparkling air of the lofty plateau, the
red-tiled roofs of the houses, ¦ the spires of the cathedrals,
the green open plazas, the deep blue sky, and the majestic
mountains with their mantle of snow form a truly won
derful picture.
The houses of La Paz are of stone or brick and adobe
or sun-dried mud. The heavy walls are often unrelieved
by decoration or ornament except the projecting iron
work over the windows. The custom of barring the
windows with iron is almost universal in South America
as in Spain and Portugal, whenpe the greater part of the
people came. In the days when the country was newer,
the whites few in number, and life generally far less safe
than now the custom was a very necessary one. Some of
the houses and many of the shops and stores are painted
in the gayest colors, bright blue rivaling that of the
clear sky, bright green like that of the freshest plants
and trees of the plazas, and the purple, orange, and pink
of the splendid sunsets of this interesting land.
The fine central plaza of La Paz is ornamented with
plants and shrubs, trees, flowers, and statues. The
. principal stores and hotels of the city flank it or are
very near it, and here also we find the government
buildings and the great cathedral of La Paz. The
stone for the still unfinished cathedral is brought in
part from the surrounding region but comes chiefly from
a distance, and some of the stone used for veneer
and ornament is brought by steamer from other countries

154 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
and shipped by rail four hundred miles from the coast.
The Markets of La Paz. The most interesting place
in La Paz, if one cares most for the people of a city, is
the great plaza in which the market is held and where all
the Indian merchants of the town gather to buy and, sell.
Fig. 82 shows a portion of the market in which fruit and
vegetables are sold. It is crowded with women squatting
beside their baskets and piles of fruit. They are dressed

Courtesy of W. D. Boyce
Fig. 82. A market scene in La Paz, Bolivia
in the bright red, blue, and yellow of which the Indians
are so fond, and wear curious little straw hats and ample
shawls and skirts. Some of them go barefoot even in
the coldest weather, while others wear sandals. A few
of the wealthiest and many of the cholos, or half-breeds,
wear fancy imported high-heeled boots and colored laces
of expensive material. They do not seem to be very
eager to sell their goods, but wait quietly for a customer,
bargaining with him in a lazy, half-hearted sort of way.
The strange and abundant fruits and vegetables one
sees in the markets of the plateau towns such as Cuzco,

HIGHLAND DWELLERS OF BOLIVIA AND PERU 155
La Paz, Oruro, and Cochabamba are always a source
of wonder to one who has just crossed the cold desert
mountains arid plateau. Whence come all these tropical
fruits, the oranges, bananas, chirimoyas, the nuts, sugar
cane, and peppers, and dozens of other things that suggest
tropical lowlands rather than a dry and cold plateau?
If one watches the caravans arriving and departing one
may soon see that they come from the low valleys and
plains east of La Paz.
Going down the beautiful La Paz valley only a few
miles one comes to a region very different from that
about the city, and at still lower elevations is a land of
well-watered- gardens and fields, fine orchards, and a
prosperous and contented people. The reason for all
this lies in the more abundant rains of the lower valley.
The lower the land the warmer it becomes, and the
climate of the eastern valleys and plains is therefore
spring-like and pleasant, not cold and disagreeable as
on the lofty plateau. Every day, year in and year out,
caravans are going up and down the La Paz valley,
some carrying food from the gardens and fields to the
great city, others returning with merchandise of cloth,
candles, shoes, hoes, and spades, and the dozens of little
wares of the town.
Some of the articles one finds in the markets of the
plateau towns are of course produced on the plateau.
Barley, meat, and wool are obtained from the flocks and
fields of the plateau dweller. Here also are produced
many varieties of potatoes that astonish the newcomer.
In our country there may be many varieties of potatoes,
but in the market they are all called potatoes. Not so in
plateau Bolivia and Peru. Perhaps no one knows just
how many kinds of potatoes here go under different names,
but it is safe to say that there are at least a dozen. Many

156 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
are grown in the ordinary way and are harvested and
sold in their natural condition. A frozen and dried variety,
known as chuiia, is very light in weight and is much prized
by the Indians, who use it in making many kinds of
soups, but to the foreigner it seems rather tasteless.
Besides the fruits and grains sold in all the plateau
markets there are blankets made by the Indian women
from the wool of sheep and llamas, ropes of llama wool,
skins from the cattle of the eastern basins and valleys,
leather sandals worn by all the plateau Indians in place
of shoes, ornaments of silver and tin, cloth from other
countries, the bright-colored shawls so well liked by the
Indian women, and many kinds of household utensils
made of wood.
The Royal Cordillera. Nothing else in Bolivia is so
wonderful as the great mountain range east of La Paz

Courtesy of the Pan-American Union
Pig. 83. View of La Paz, Bolivia

HIGHLAND DWELLERS OF BOLIVIA AND PERU 157
that may be seen from the streets of that city and for
great distances oUt upon the plateau. It is called the
Cordillera Real, or Royal Cordillera (also thought to
mean real, or dominating, Cordillera, as distinguished
from the lower ranges of the Andes), and right well it
deserves the name (Fig. 84). It is the crowning range
dp" all South America and one of the greatest scenic
features of the world. Sorata on the north, Huayna
Potosi in the middle, and Illimani on the south are the
dominating peaks and reach altitudes from nineteen
thousand to twenty-one thousand feet above the sea.
Illimani is the highest of them all and overlooks La Paz.
Its white, snow-crowned summit stands out boldly on
clear days, but is never completely exposed to view for
a long time. Clouds gather about it almost continually,
and snowstorms and mists enshroud its lofty peak almost
every day in the year (Plates II and VIII).
For a long time Illimani was one of the unconquered
mountains of the world. But in 1896 Sir Martin Conway,
the great mountain climber, mapped the Cordillera Real
and after several attempts scaled the lofty mountain.
It was one of the greatest of the many achievements of
this daring explorer, for Illimani is so high that to the
natural difficulties of the ascent are added those due to
the rarefied air and the incessant storms.' For more than
four thousand feet of the climb one is in the realm of
cold,;. where blinding snow, slippery ice, and dangerous
avalanches and precipices bewilder the explorer.
A Day's Journey from Ice to Oranges. The great
Cordillera Real of Bolivia is in many senses a dividing
range. Westward stretches the flat plateau of Bolivia;
eastward are the deep mountain valleys and the river
plains. It is in this' border region between mountains
arid plains that one finds such great contrasts of climate

158 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
and of products, the marvel of every- traveler. Think
of riding in a single day from a bleak, cold, and lofty

Fig. 84. Looking east over the great high plateau of western
Bolivia, the snow-capped Cordillera Real in the back
ground. A flock of llamas and alpacas is grazing
in the middle distance
range of mountains down through a region of eternal
spring and camping at night in the hot mosquito-infested
valleys on the edge of the Amazon lowland! That is
what one may do near Sorata, and indeed in several places
near the Cordillera Real (Fig. 84).
Fig: 85 shows a group of Indians harvesting potatoes
at an elevation twelve thousand feet above the sea. It
is a dry, cold, bleak, treeless land. In one hour's ride
from this point is a mountain pass where snow covers the
ground and a piercing wind chills one to the bone. In
three hours more one is in the bottom of a warm valley
where sweet-scented flowers fill the air with perfume, and
trees and vines grow luxuriantly. At nightfall one arrives
at a camp site where oranges and bananas grow, where
the air is hot and damp, dense tropical vegetation covers
hill and valley with a mantle of green, and strange and
beautifully colored insects and birds brighten and enliven
the forest.
In these steep valleys whose heads extend far into the

HIGHLAND DWELLERS OF BOLIVIA AND PERU 1 59
region of ice and snow and whose mouths are in the hot
lands of the tropics one may find an astonishing variety
of plants and animals. Up in the region of the snows
only a few cacti and fungi grow, farther down grow the
tola bushes, shrubs, and short grasses upon which the
llama feeds, still farther down are the potato and barley
fields of the plateau dweller, and then one gradtially
descends through the region of cornfields to that of coca

Fig. 85. Indian villagers of the great Andean plateau harvesting
potatoes at an elevation of 12,500 feet above the sea. On
the other side of the mountains in the picture are heavy
rains and dense foliage; here the people must irri
gate their crops or plant them where the springs
come out of the ground

160 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
orchards, from coca orchards to orange groves, and at
last to the land of the plains, the land of cacao and rubber.
Plateau and Valley Contrasts. The habits and customs
of the people of these different regions are as unlike as
the products. In the higher portions of the land one finds
thick- walled houses; in the lower valleys the climate is
so warm that the houses have no walls at all. It is so
dry on the plateau that while the roofs are made thick
to keep out the cold they are pitched at a low angle; in
the valleys the roofs are steep and thick not to keep out
the cold but the better to shed water. On the plateau the
people sleep in closed houses and under warm blankets;
in the valleys they sleep in hammocks or on benches in
open rooms.
The plateau Indian rarely goes where his precious llama
will not go, and the llama is a child of the cold, forestless
plateau. If taken down into the warm valleys it will
become sick, and if kept there long it will die. If the
Indian of the plateau goes down into the valleys and
plains he is not so comfortable as on the plateau, and if
he stays on the plains he may quickly become ill and
die. Thus the mountain climate and the valley and
plains climate are so dissimilar -that they have led to
the development of two groups of people wholly unlike.
In the past their differences often led to war, but in,
these days of multiplying trade routes they are -glad
to exchange their various products and live on friendly
terms.

CHAPTER VIII
THE INCA KINGS AND PEOPLE
A Powerful Ancient Race. Upon the high plateaus of
Peru and Bolivia one sees to-day a most interesting race
of Indians. Their ancestors were subjects of that great
Inca empire whose wise laws, deep religion, splendid
palaces (Fig. 86), and fine aqueducts are among the
wonders of the world. Even to-day the plateau Indian in
his bright-colored blanket and cap, with his quick trot,
his mysterious silence and grave looks, is an interesting
creature. What must he have been in the days before
the coming of the Spaniards? Now his spirit is broken
by misuse and he is awed by the powerful white man
whom he serves. In the days of the Inca empire he was
a soldier in the army of the king, he fought and won
great battles, made long, dangerous marches, and tamed
even the grim mountain slopes for his flocks of llamas
and the silver of his splendid temples.
The Civilized Indians of the Plateau. The early
Spanish explorers found to their surprise tiiat' parts of
the New World were peopled by Indiaris who were not
wild and savage, but partly civilized. In Peru, as well as
in Mexico, there was found a great Indian nation, with
laws, government, taxes, well-drilled armies, great forts
and temples, and an elaborate religion. It is peculiar
to both the Mexican Indians and those of Peru that
their great civilization was developed upon a high table
land or plateau. We shall understand this fact if we
remember that upon the wet lowlands in the tropics,
where great heat is the rule, man finds progress all
but impossible. The intense heat, as well as the dense
11 161

1 62 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
vegetation, prevents man from developing into the
intelligent race type that is found in the cooler zones,
in which France, England, the United States, Chile,
and other progressive countries are located.
There is one exception to this rule. Even in the tropics
a cool climate may be found where there are mountains
and plateaus. In fact, if one only goes high enough one
may find mountain peaks with perpetual snow and ice
upon them. Chimborazo at Quito rises twenty-one thou
sand feet above the sea. Its snow-capped summit may
be seen on clear days from Guayaquil itself, one of the
hottest cities in the world. The cold of high elevations
even in tropical regions may be as intense as is the heat
of the lowlands. Between these extremes, if only one will
seek the right altitude, a moderate temperature may

Fig. 86. A twelve-cornered stone in the Inca palace, Cuzco, Peru

, THE INCA KINGS AND PEOPLE 163
always be found, neither so hot as to prevent man's
development nor so cold as to drive him away. This
intermediate level is situated between seven thousand
and twelve thousand feet. If the amount of land between
those elevations in a given region is small, few people
can occupy it, and there will not be offered a chance for
growth; if the amount is large there will be room for spa
cious fields, wide pastures, great cities, and many people.
In short, there will be room for a nation and a chance for
civilization to develop.
It requires but little study of the map (Fig. 64) to show
how much of Peru and Bolivia lies at this favored height,
where cool weather, clear skies, and water for irrigation
may be found. It was very natural therefore that the
Indians who dwelt there should b>e more progressive than
their neighbors in the tropical jungles of the Amazon
valley. They were more alert mentally. They built
great cities and towns, among them Cuzco, the capital
of the Inca empire (Fig. 87), and this the hunter in the
forest never does. They lived by farming chiefly, with
some grazing; hence there were more people in a given
area' than can be found in a forest where men hunt and
fish over wide spaces for a living. Life in such a highland
region may be easy, but never so easy as to make men
lazy; it is hard, but never so hard as to discourage men
and turn them into savages or prevent them from
bedoming anything more than savages. We must con
clude, then,' that it is iri large part the climate Upon
these highlands that resulted in the rise of the great
empire of the Incas which'' stretched for hundreds of
miles from Ecuador to Chile and from the eastern edge
of the Andes Mountains to the Pacific coast.
The Inca Kings at Work. The Inca Indians were
remarkable in many ways but perhaps most of all for the

1 64 SOUTH AMERICA": A GEOGRAPHY READER
way in which they adapted themselves to the country in
which they lived. It is so dry upon the table-land where

Fig. 87. The city of Cuzco, Peru, the ancient capital of the
Inca empire
they dwelt that, although some grass and potatoes will
grow without irrigation, the best crops can be grown only
where water is applied to the land. The Inca kings were
very intelligent men and taught their people how best
to conduct the water along canals to their fields of millet
and corn. They taught them industry and skill. Every
year the king himself went out into a field near Cuzco
and guided the plow to show his subjects how necessary
it was to work, and how important were the farms upon
which the people had to depend for food. Of course,
after that, no man felt ashamed to plow or to do other
work in the fields, for the king himself, in sight of all the
people of Cuzco, had plowed a furrow and worked with

THE INCA KINGS AND PEOPLE

165

his hands and soiled his feet with earth. This dignified
labor. It made men want to do what the king had done.
It made them proud of their work.
The King's Agents. Another thing these kings did that
was of great help to their people. They sent intelligent
men through the land to find out for what products each
part was best suited. If they found a spot where igno
rant people were growing potatoes and where corn Would
grow much better, they made them grow com instead, and
then exchange what they did not need for potatoes grown
somewhere else. In this way they organized their subjects
into a great family in which each group worked for the
good of all the people. If the crops failed in one place on
account of the lack of water, the people whose crops were
good had to give up a part of their harvest to the poor.

Fig. 88. A splendid church on the central plaza, Cuzco, Peru

1 66 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

Crops for Taxes. The kings also helped trade. They
urged the people of the mountains to visit the people of
the valleys and plains and exchange the wool and meat
of their flocks for the dried fruit and grain of the farms
in the valleys. They were very careful in taxing the
people to make them pay only what was fair and what
they could easily get. Of course a government can be
run only by taxing the people who are governed. This

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
Fig. 89. Selling potatoes in their native landmarket before Jesuit
Church and College, Cuzco, Peru

THE INCA KINGS AND PEOPLE 167
tax supports an army, which is always needed for defense;
it pays- the men who work for all the people; it allows the
.building of forts for protection and temples for worship —
an important thing in the religion of the Incas. The
men who grew potatoes sent a part of their crop as tribute
to Cuzco, those who kept flocks of llamas sent wool,
those who grew corn sent corn. In this way the taxes
were easily collected, for no man felt his tax a burden.
The kings-even taught their subjects to be clean in person
and in their towns, ' and sometimes punished them for
disobedience in regard to cleanliness.
The Worship of the Sun. The different families of
Indians in North and in South America had a great many
kinds of religions. Each religion or belief had certain
features that grew out of, the kind of place in which it
was known and practiced. Like all the other Indians-
the Iricas had their own religion. They regarded it very
highly and paid a great deal of attention to its rites.
The great central object of worship was the sun, which
was regarded as the source of all life, the giver of all
benefits, the caretaker of the world. This is a very
natural sort of belief to an ignorant Indian.
On the night of June 21, the shortest and often the cold
est day of the year in the southern hemisphere, many of
the Indians of. to-day still follow one of the old Inca
customs. They build fires at every important street
corner in the cities and towns and on every prominent
hilltop and mountain in the country. They say that they
do this to bring back the sun, which is then farthest north;
and also to prevent the stones and earth from becoming
so cold as to crack open from the frost. The custom is
a pretty one, and the night is made extremely picturesque
by the fires gleaming on all the hilltops roundabout.
It reminds one of the games the Eskimos play and the

168 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

\

sacred rites they observe to bring back the sun to their
cold northern land. Small wonder, then, that the Incas
worshiped the sun as the giver of light and warmth. Its
light beautified the earth;- it gave life to the growing plants
and warmth to man after the cold night. To one who
has experienced the night temperatures on a high plateau
it seems not at all strange that these Indians should regard
the sun with awe, and should even build up a religion based
on the worship of the sun.
The Prayers of the Sun Worshipers. Many of the
forms of the Inca Indian's religion are of great interest
and even beauty. Some of their prayers are framed in
very simple language and express deep faith that their
petitions to the sun will be answered. Many of them
have been written and preserved for us by an Inca Indian
who lived in Peru at the time of the Spanish conquest.
He 'was educated in Spain, and when he became old,
wrote out in Spanish the history of his people. The book
is now printed in English also, and is one of the most
interesting stories in the world. Its author was Garcilasso
de la Vega, to whom we owe much of our knowledge of
Inca customs and beliefs. Some of the prayers he wrote
are worth reading here: Prayer to the Creator
"... Thou who givest life and strength to mankind . . .
and vouchsafest that men live in health and peace, and free from
danger: Thou who dwellest in the heights of heaven, in the
thunder, and in the storm clouds, hear us! and grant us eternal
life. Have us in thy keeping, and receive this our offering, as it
shall please thee, u Creator!" Prayer to the Sun
"O Creator! Thou who gavest being to the Sun, and afterwards
said let there be day and night, raise it and cause it to shine, and
preserve that which thou hast created, that it may give light to
men. Grant this, O Creator!"
In their prayers one finds reverence for all the important

THE INCA KINGS AND PEOPLE 169
things relating, to daily life and common food. The Incas
worshiped all mountain passes as places where, the
hardest part of the journey ended, one might rest
before beginning the descent. Even the Christian
Indian to-day frequently worships at shrines built on
mountain passes. The Inca Indian also worshiped the
wind and running water.- On this dry and cool plateau
plants need besides soil two things in favorable amounts,
water and sunlight. The precious water, led carefully
out over the fields -and gardens, was an object of great
importance and therefore of worship. The lightning and
the thunder were the voices of unseen spirits and were
feared. So also, the Inca Indian feared to go up into the
highest places of the mountains, for the mountain sick
ness which troubled him there made him believe that the
lofty places .were peopled by evil spirits which, being
angry at man's intrusion, drove him out of their home
with sickness and pain.
Prescott's "Conquest of Peru." The boy or girl who
has not read Prescott's Conquest of Peru has yet to enjoy
one of the richest and most fascinating, stories of history.
In that work the great American.historian tells in a simple
way the story of the Inca life and religion. Prescott was
especially impressed with the worship of the Incas and the
temples they erected for that purpose. He described par
ticularly the Temple of the Sun in Cuzco, the capital of
the Incas, where the kings dwelt and where' all the people
came once a year to attend a great feast in honor of the sun.
Some Indian Palaces and Temples. The photographs
(Figs. 86 and 91) give one an idea of the great walls in
these temples and the great size of the stones in some of
them. Fig. 90 shows the base of the Royal Palace. The
stones are all well trimmed and fitted to riiake a wall which
no one can fail to admire.

170 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

In the view (Fig. 86) is shown the largest stone in the
palace. Its height may be judged from the Indian who
stands beside it. It has twelve angles or corners, and into
each another stone is fitted with perfect nicety. So accu
rately have the different sides of each stone been trimmed
that it is impossible in many places to insert the point of
a needle between two faces in contact with each other.
This is the more remarkable when we consider the tools
with which these men worked. They were not acquainted
with the use of steel but employed a chisel, ax, and
hamrner made of impure copper. Pure copper is soft and
cannot in its natural state be used in making a cutting tool.
But these Indians knew
how to take impure cop
per and treat it so as to
make a kind of bronze
often wrongly described
as "tempered copper."
Another very remark
able thing about the old
buildings of the Incas is
the great size of many
of the stones one finds
in the walls. The pho
tograph (Fig. 91) shows
Fig. 90. Donkey loaded with straw for one of the largest Stones
fuel, on street in Cuzco, Peru. The use(J jn buildine the
old wall to the left is part of the °
building in which the Inca great fort (Sacsahua-
kings once lived man) (Fig. 92) that
overlooks Cuzco from the summit of the hill on the
northern edge of the town. This stone is about four
teen feet high and has been estimated to weigh a hun
dred tons. We should find such a stone exceedingly hard to
move even with all the large hoisting machinery that we

THE INCA KINGS AND PEOPLE

171

can command. To the men of ancient Cuzco, who had
rio such machinery, the task must have been incredibly
difficult. Even the streets of old Cuzco were paved by the indus
trious Incas. From the quarries about the city paving
blocks were gathered
and laid down in regu
lar fashion, just as we
pave a city to-day. To
supply the city with
water a long aqueduct
was built, several miles
of it consisting of a tun-
;nel cut part of the way
through solid rock. The
fact that these old canals
and tunnels still exist
speaks well for the an
cient builders, who seem
to have built as the
Romans built, not for
years but for centuries,
not for men but for gods.
,The Inca kings ordered roads to be built to the four
parts of their empire. They were made very carefully,
as was the rule in everything. In places they were cut
in rock; in still other places they were graded and
smoothed. Through the desert, where shifting sands
make road building expensive and where the sand so
quickly covers a roadway, they erected poles and piles of
stones as signs of the way, signos del camino, as they are
called in the Spanish to-day. The chief defect of these
highways may be seen at stream crossings, where the
traveler looks in vain for a bridge. Although the Incas

Fig. 91. One of the huge stones in the
walls of the old Inca fort (Sacsahua-
man) near the city of Cuzco,
Peru, the old capital of
the Incas

172 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
were familiar with the keystone they never learned the
secret of employing it in the making of a stone arch which
might serve for a bridge.
Upon the imperial highways the kings themselves
journeyed to see the different parts of the empire and to
become acquainted with the people so that they might
rule more justly, somewhat in the spirit in which the
President of the United States now travels about. The

Fig. 92. Walls of the old fort at Cuzco, Peru, on the
top of a hill near the town
Inca king desired to let the people know that he was
interested in the welfare of all kinds of men in all parts
of the country, and he even went to the seat of war
when it became necessary to encourage the armies to bet
ter fighting.
The Inca Empire. Nearly all the Inca kings attempted
to extend the boundaries of their empire by war and
conquest. At the time of the coming of the Spaniards,
about 1535, a vast extent of country was governed from
Cuzco. The empire ran from Ecuador on the north to
central Chile on the south, and from the Pacific shore to
the very edge of the tropical plains east of the Andes.

THE INCA KINGS AND PEOPLE 173
On the north the Spaniards found the Quitos, a race of
Indians almost as remarkable for their great temples,
their religion, and their intelligence as the Incas on the
south. These fought with great courage and successfully
resisted all attempts on the part of the Incas to conquer
their country. Into .central Chile the Inca kings sent
some of their best armies for the conquest of the Arau-
canians, a fierce and warlike people. But here again
they met with a resistance so strong that they had to
stop fighting and content themselves with the northern
part of Chile, the arid region now known as Atacama.
Although fine armies were sent eastward to conquer
the Indians of the tropical forests arid the plains, and
though forts and roads were built in that direction for
the same purpose, the Incas never were able to extend
their empire very far eastward, not because the Indians
of the plains fought better than the Inca armies but
because the unheal thful country itself was their worst
enemy. Malarial fever and many other tropical dis
eases as well broke out among the soldiers ; they could not
withstand the stinging insects which are found in great
numbers on the plains; the climate is exceedingly hot
and the air so damp that the heat is felt much more
than in a dry country; and the forest itself is marked by
tangled undergrowth, trackless expanses, and dangerous
animals. It is easy to see therefore that the Inca empire
had its boundaries determined as much by the nature of
the country as by the kind of people who resisted the
armies of Cuzco.
The Inca Religion. In those valleys in which the
people fought against the Incas they did so chiefly because
they did not like the Inca, religion. The Incas demanded
that all conquered peoples should worship the sun or be
punished; but, said the people of the coastal valleys,

174 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
even a fool could see that the sun was an object to be
hated and feared, not to be worshiped and loved. For
did it not wither their corn and dry up their fields and
burn the earth? No, as' for them, they were not going
to accept a religion in which they had to worship the sun.
Rather would they keep their old religion, in which they
worshiped water and fish, the one because it gave life to
the earth, the other because it supplied food to the people.
The reason for this strong difference of opinion is easy
to see. The Inca religion grew up on the plateau where
it is so cool that the sun is desired and loved, while the
people in the low coast valleys lived in a hot country
where the sun's effects are often destructive to crops. At
last the difficulty was overcome by a compromise. The
people of the coast were allowed still to worship water and
fish if they chose, but they must also build -temples
to the sun and worship in them. Thus there grew up
along the coast a most curious mixture of Inca and Yunca
religion, one part consisting of what the people wanted to
believe and the other part of what they had to believe.
It is a remarkable fact that many people eagerly
accepted the Inca rule. This was due entirely to the fine
systems of irrigation which the Incas always established
in a conquered province and to the good and wise laws
they always made. It was really better to belong to
the empire and to be protected and ruled by a wise
king than to be continually at war with quarrelsome
neighbors. There was also something splendid in the
religion of the Incas. Its rites and ceremonies were
grand and impressive, its prayers were about food and
water and the sun, and all these things pleased people
for whom life held few pleasures except the commonest,
and to whom the chief concern was the getting of their
daily bread, fairly wrung from a stubborn earth.

THE INCA KINGS AND PEOPLE 175
The Cruel Wrongs of the Spanish. With the arrival
of the Spaniards in Peru there was brought about a
complete change in the life and religion of the people
within the empire of the Incas. The Spaniards easily
took possession of Cuzco, for they had firearms while the
Indians had only the simplest kinds of arms— stones and
knives. The last king of the Incas, Atahualpa, was tried
and cruelly put to death. Some of the temples were later
torn down and the spaces between the stones searched
for gold, the altars were despoiled of all their ornaments
of gold and silver, the people robbed of their possessions,
and other wrongs inflicted. Men and boys were com
pelled to work like slaves in the silver and gold mines in
order that the inhuman thirst for wealth on the part of
the Spaniards might be gratified. At last a better spirit
came to rule among them. The Indians were given some
rights: they were no longer compelled to work in the
mines; property could not be stolen from them; they
could no longer be abused and whipped.
With all these changes came a change in the religion
of the Indians. They no longer worshiped in the temples
of their fathers. Priests from Spain established the
Catholic religion and built great churches and cathedrals;
some of them, indeed, were built on the ruins of former
temples (Figs. 88 and 89). In place of the rites and cere
monials of the Inca worship of the sun came the prayers,
the processions, and the solemn music of the Christian
religion as practiced by the Catholic Church. To-day
the ancient religion is in many places no longer even a
memory. If one steps into a cathedral in La Paz or
Lima or Cochabamba, one finds within it many Indian
worshipers whose god is no longer the sun, and who join
in prayers not so much for rain and full streams as for the
faith, hope, and love of the Christian religion.

CHAPTER IX
THE PLAINS AND INDIANS OF EL GRAN CHACO
The Empty Spaces of the Gran Chaco. The mystery
of that large blank space on the maps of the Argentine
and of Bolivia that represents El Gran Chaco (Plate II)
is realized by only a few people. There are tracts as large
as the state of New York of which we know practically
nothing; in others, white settlements are absent for
hundreds of square miles; in still other places in the
Gran Chaco live Indian tribes of which little more than
the name is known. Government enterprise, however, is
now openirig up the best sections of the Chaco. The
Argentine is spending large sums in an effort to colonize
the region. Already some of its rivers have been explored
and improved, and it is expected that two railway lines
will soon be built through it. Improved means for
trade will transform this land of mystery into a settled
region, for its pastures and its soil are rich though its
water supply is not everywhere good. Along the foot
of the mountains, where water may be obtained from the
streams before they have begun to fail, plantations of
rice, sugar (Fig. 93), and cotton are already established
as far as the railway affords a means for cheaper trans
portation (Fig. 94). Large tracts near the Paraguay
have recently been purchased for cattle ranching. Amer
ican cowboys have been imported to care for the herds
brought in from the south (Fig. 96). It will not be long
before at least short railway lines will extend westward
from the Paraguay and open up a vast cattle country
(Fig. 95). The quebracho forests are another source of
wealth in the southern part of the Chaco (Fig. 97). They
176

PLAINS AND INDIANS OF EL GRAN CHACO 177
furnish a hard wood used for railway ties and fence posts,
and from the wood a tannin extract is produced. Over
ten million dollars' worth of quebracho wood and extract
are exported each year. Half of this goes to the United
States. The tannin is made in little factories on the edge
of the Chaco and in the neighboring Argentine provinces
of Santa Fe" and Santiago del Estero. Large foreign
companies have in the past few years begun production
on a big scale. One company employs between four and
five thousand men.
The Rivers of the Gran Chaco. The Gran Chaco is
so large that it is not contained in any one republic. It
extends through Bolivia, Paraguay, and the Argentine,
where these meet in a common boundary at the northern
end of the Argentine (Plate II). About the .borders of
this vast tract men have traveled for exploration and
trade, have seen the Indians who inhabit the country,
and along two- lines have crossed it in some numbers on
business. Since the rivers play so important a part in the develop
ment of a new country, it is worth while to see what the
river systems of the Gran Chaco are like. The Paraguay
is the chief river on the eastern border of the region, and
has its sources far toward the north, well within the
heart of the South American continent. It is so large as
to be navigable two thousand miles above Buenos Aires
to the port of Corumba, and smaller boats go even farther.
It is therefore one of the routes of trade, the outlet for a
vast region where rubber, cacao, and hides are produced.
From the west it receives several tributaries almost as
long as the main stream; from the east no rivers of any size
join the Paraguay.
- Among the rivers that join the Paraguay from the west
the Bermejo and the Pilcomayo are the most important.
12

178 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
The Pilcomayo is by far the longer but the Bermejo alone
has been used for trade. The head of navigation on the

Fig. 93. Sugar works at Ledesma, north-central Argentine, near
the border of the Chaco country
Bermejo is Oran, and thither canoes and flat-bottomed
boats in considerable numbers formerly came from
Buenos Aires, more than eighteen hundred miles away.
The journey was extremely difficult owing to the shifting
sand bars, the low water, the great heat, and the pest of
insects. The expense involved in carrying goods by river
boats was enormous, and only the remoteness of the prov
inces of Jujuy, Salta, and Tarija, and the length of other
routes to them, made men take the Bermejo route. The
government has recently deepened it so that it has a reg
ular steamboat service for some distance above its mouth.
The Mysterious Pilcomayo River. The great neighbor
of the Bermejo, the Pilcomayo, has long been one of
the geographical conundrums of South America. Both
its headwaters and its mouth have been known for
many years, but the middle course of the river has re
mained almost unknown, on account of the swamps and the
fierce Indians. Crevaux, the Stanley of South America,
whose explorations have been among the most important

'PLAINS AND INDIANS OF EL GRAN CHACO 179
of any made there, lost his life trying to discover the
secrets of the great river. While making his way down
the stream in 1882, he was treacherously killed by Tobas
Indians, who live in force along the middle course of the
stream. Eleven other explorers in turn met defeat in
i attempting what Crevaux failed to do. In 1898 Ibaretta,
the last of them, met the common fate.
But one man has traveled from the headwaters of the
river to its mouth. Thouar, a Frenchman, went from
the upper Pilcomayo to Asuncion on the Paraguay. He
and his men were- obliged to eat their mules and dogs,
and were fourid by hunters in a half -starving condition
near the mouth' of the great river. So difficult had been
their journey that they had no energy left to look about
; them and see what the country was like, and but little
was learned from them. Pages, a captain of the Argentine
navy, tried to ascend the river, building a series of dams
below his small steamer to secure navigable water, but
he was obliged to abandon his vessel in the marshes and
at last barely escaped with his life.

Fig. 94, Iron pipe hauled on. mule carts from the end of the railway
in northern Argentine to the oil fields of south-central Bolivia

180 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
In 1905 Gunnar Lange undertook to make a thorough
study of the geography of the Pilcomayo, to see if the

ffir..J!

jfc

%wjj,knti

jj»i,.^MB«.L ' ¦ — - ¦¦

- : ,.^-3««»|

1 '--^^MC-i,'
, . -
i**Zi*^-
1 ) 7
/ ;¦¦!. ¦¦:•
m-'~-
SSEk
- 4 ^ ¦ ¦ :¦
Fig. 95. Chaco cattle in the desert of Atacama, after a twelve days'
journey across the Cordillera between Salta, A rgenline,
and San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
river were at all navigable, and to discover its exact nature
as a route of trade. The party under Lange consisted
of thirty men. Beef animals and canned provisions in
large quantities were sent ahead of the expedition to the
swamp region of the lower Pilcomayo where the real work
began. Lange crossed the salt swamps with their inter
lacing streams by using oxen to drag the boats. The
expedition finally reached a point above the swamps
seven hundred miles from the mouth of the river. So
salty were the swamps that drinking water was obtained
with the greatest difficulty ;
The expedition discovered that the banks of the stream
for seven hundred miles are lined with dense forests of
both hard and soft woods. On low mounds among the
marshes and on higher ground away from, the river are
PLAINS AND INDIANS OF EL GRAN CHACO 181

splendid pastures. Were a channel opened by dredging
and the swamps drained it would be possible to turn vast
tracts of the Pilcomayo valley into grazing land and pro
duce large numbers of cattle. At present cattle would
have to be driven five hundred miles to the Paraguay
through a country where pasturage is not always easy to
secure, and where the water is stagnant and unfit to drink.
The Road to Santa Cruz. There is a strip of country
across the northern Gran Chaco that is now well known
because of the fact that through it Santa Cruz de la Sierra,
one of the larger cities of Bolivia, finds an outlet to the
sea. The water supply over this route is not good, and
sometimes cats called "tigers" kill the oxen and increase
the delay. By oxcart it takes from two to five months

Fig. 96. Gauchos of the Chaco at Embarcacion, northern Argentine.
The heavy cowhide flaps on the, saddle front are a protection
against the thorny shrubs through which the cowboy
must ride in rounding up his stock for the
long drive to the end of the railway

182 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
to cross the Gran Chaco; and about two weeks if one is
fortunate enough to get mules. If the road is very bad

Fig. 97. Quebracho logs, northern Argentine
goods cannot be moved at all. The' oxcarts used here
are great, lumbering, two-wheeled vehicles built very
strong on account of the ruts, roots, sWamps, and stream
crossings without number.
The Indians- of the drier regions manage to ; sustain
themselves by using water, stored , in the yertical leaves
of the cactus and by squeezing out the juice of the large
pulpy water-potatoes. Both travelers and natives. suffer
much from the mosquitos and also- from the barbs with
which all the plants are armed. The most acceptable
present to a Chaco Indian is a shirt, which is at once
a cover at night and a partial shield from the thoms and
saw grasses by day.
The Trade of Santa Cruz. One wonders why in the
face of these great difficulties people ever came to settle

PLAINS AND INDIANS OF EL GRAN CHACO 183
at Santa Cruz, one of the oldest towns in Bolivia and yet
one of the most remote from the sea. It was founded
by Catholic missionaries and for a long time was a center
of religious teaching. Its full name signifies "Holy Cross
of the Sierras." Its importance from the first was due to
the manner in which the streams radiate from this locality,
thus giving exploration parties the choice of several routes
through the river plains of the upper Mamore\ It early
became the center of a cattle industry, for which the
grassy plains about it are admirably fitted, and on account
of its position near the mountains it has the very great
advantage of a climate cooler than the plains towns
enjoy. Since the rubber tree has become so important
Santa Cruz has grown rapidly. Its position at the head
waters of the Mamore gives it an important part in
the trade of that stream and its neighbors, — -the Yapacani,
Rio Grande, and others. Though most of the Bolivian
rubber is sent down the Madeira and the Amazon to the
Atlantic, a part of it is taken in canoes, batelaos, and
oxcarts to Santa Cruz, where it pays the bills of the
rubber men who have bought goods of the merchants of
Santa Cruz. Thence these merchants ship it by oxcart
to the Paraguay and river steamers deliver it to the docks
of Buenos Aires.
The Fierce Tobas Indians. Few Indian tribes of South
America are really dangerous to whites, but of this
.number the wildest groups among the Tobas might well
stand at the head of the list. The whole group numbers
about twenty thousand and its members live principally
along the middle Pilcomayo. A tribe of the Tobas
living in the Argentine Chaco have a more peaceful
character, some of them working for part of the year
upon the sugar plantations of the whites; others living
in the recesses of the forests and swamps manage to

1 84 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
resist all attempts at conquest. Although one military
expedition has been sent against them, they have never
been reduced and are still one of the most serious diffi
culties to be overcome in the development of these remote
grasslands. Early in 1913 a half dozen whites near the
lower Bermejo were killed by Tobas. They are typical
red men, tall, muscular, bony, with long black hair.
They are extremely wary and have few words either
among themselves or for the stranger.
"We saw four Indians come stealthily down to the bank
armed with long lances. Then lying down among the
reeds, they gazed silently into the water till they saw some
big fish pass by, when, with wonderful skill, they speared
them one after the other, and threw them on the bank,
Next they lit a fire, roasted the fish they had caught, and
devoured them. This done, they picked up their weapons
and crept back into the woods as noiselessly and stealthily
as they had come. The whole time — some three hours —
not one of these men spoke a word; they gave the neces
sary directions to each other by slight inclinations of the
head only." (Knight.)
In the simple and primitive life of most tribes of Chaco
Indians the customs and habits closely reflect the geog
raphy of the region. When the cold south wind blows
they take off their blankets and shake them, saying that
they are shaking out the sickness, colds, and influenza
which this wind always brings. They sprinkle the blood
of a duck in order to make rain in their dry scrub country.
When a rainstorm rises they wait until it has passed over
head; then they push with their hands and shout, "Away!
Away ! " On cloudy days an old man holds a firebrand up
toward the sun that it may shine again. Kyaiya is the
name of a feast which is held each year to welcome back
the spring, with its balmy winds and green foliage.

CHAPTER X
PARAGUAY
A Country that gives its Name to a Tea. It has been
said by a traveler that if all the tea that grows in
Paraguay were brewed at one time there would be
more than enough to furnish a cupful to every man,
woman, and child in the world. It is one of the chief
products of Paraguay, and so much has been raised
there and shipped to other countries that many call it
Paraguay tea. In South America it is called mate. It
grows in. groves and even in forests of tea. Think of a
land where tea is so abundant that there are hundreds
of square miles of it growing wild! In some places it
covers all the mountain slopes in woods known as
yerbales. At one time the Jesuit fathers cultivated it in
plantations so as to improve its quality, but since their
expulsion there has been no real system of cultivation
and the trees grow wild.
Paraguay tea makes a very cheap beverage and is said
to have excellent effects without harming the nerves of
the people who drink it. It is used in Brazil, where it is
now grown for the market in greater quantities than in
Paraguay; the gaucho of the Argentine pampas finds it
an almost indispensable drink; and even the distant
Tehuelche Indians of the Patagonian plains use it in con
siderable quantities. Perhaps at some time in the future
its use will become much more general and we may find
ourselves drinking tea from Paraguay and Brazil as well
as from China and Japan.
The Orange Groves of Paraguay. Scarcely less wonder
ful than the forests of Paraguay tea are the great orange
185

186 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
groves. Oranges are so plentiful there that they are fed
to the pigs as the farmers of Illinois feed corn to their
live stock. On the streets of some of the Paraguayan
towns one may buy thirty oranges for a cent. Oranges
are handled like potatoes or wheat in this country and not
in the delicate way in which we handle them in the United
States. If one orange is harmed there are a dozen to take
its place; and where thirty may be had for a cent who
cares whether there is one orange more or less ? One finds
oranges and orange groves everywhere: along the river
banks, about the country and city houses, in parks, in the
forest, on the hillsides; wild oranges, cultivated oranges;
oranges so plentiful that they belong to any one who cares
to pick them up. Their cost depends merely on the labor
of gathering them, which amounts to almost nothing.
Sometimes steamers come up the great rivers of Para
guay and take on a load of oranges to sell to the people
of the Argentine or Uruguay; and then the river front
presents a pretty sight. Great loads of golden oranges are
carted to the river bank and women begin loading them
into baskets in which they carry them on board the boat.
Dozens and sometimes hundreds of women may be at
work at one time taking the place of the machinery
with which boats are generally loaded.
A Country of Few Men. If we think of the size of
Paraguay we call it next to the smallest country of South
America; but if we think of the number of people in it
we say that Paraguay is the smallest of all South American
countries. There are fewer people in Paraguay than there
are in Ecuador or even in Uruguay. But a more peculiar
thing than the small number of people in Paraguay is the
small number of men. A moment ago we read that women
load the orange boats, and if we should travel in Paraguay
we would at once be struck with the fact that women do

PARAGUAY 187
almost all the work of the country, whether it is easy
or hard. Paraguay is essentially a country of women.
It came about in this way. At one time Paraguay had
a very despotic ruler who governed the people harshly and
quarreled with his neighbors. Finally he got into serious
trouble with Brazil, the Argentine, and Uruguay, and
with all of them at the same time! So these countries
banded together, collected their gunboats, and armies,
sailed up the Paraguay River, and then marched out over
the country and drove the Paraguayan army from one
place to another until it was entirely destroyed. So
many men lost their lives during- this war that when it
was ended there were scarcely enough men in the country
to do its business. Three fourths of the whole population
had been destroyed or driven out, and when the war ended
there were only about two hundred and fifty thousand
people in the country. This war lasted from 1865 until
1870. Since then the population has been steadily increas
ing and now numbers but little less than a million.
Physical Features. The western portion of Paraguay
consists for the most part of flat plains upon whose surface
the water stands during the wet season (Plates I, VII, and
IX). Every year when the rivers are in flood the banks
are washed away, the river overflows, and the region is
covered with water for miles and miles. This makes the
country very unhealthful and fevers, especially malaria,
are common. Also, the farther north one goes the hotter
it becomes and the more 'difficult it is for the white man
to make his home. Southern' Paraguay is cooler and its
climate has been described as spring-like, but whether or
not one calls it spring-like depends upon the spring one
is accustomed to have at home (Plates V and VI)- Per
haps it is spring-like to a Cuban or a Guatetrialan, but to
an American it seems decidedly tropical. Nowhere in

1 88 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
Paraguay are there high mountains, but in the eastern
part of the country there are mountains that rise two
thousand or more feet, their tops covered with forest.
But little is known of the interior of Paraguay except
-that in the remote parts of the country live Indian
tribes that have scarcely ever seen a white man except the
slave raiders who range the forest capturing the natives
to work on the rubber plantations. Once in a while a
white traveler makes an expedition into the northern
country and after terrible hardships comes back to tell
of the fever-ridden land where the climate is bad and
where the few people are very much afraid of the whites.
The River that gave its Name to the Country. Among
the rivers of Paraguay we should learn first of all of the
one for which the country is named. Running for the
most part through a flat country, the Paraguay has no
falls or rapids in its course; it has, however, so many turns
and curves that the distances from place to place some
times measure several times as far by river as in a direct
line. Steamers go up the Paraguay to Corumba, Brazil,
and very small steamers and launches even go up as far as

Courtesy of the Pan-American Union
Fig. 98. Asuncion, capital and largest city of Paraguay

PARAGUAY 189
Cuyaba, where all direct connection with the outside
world ends and where one plunges into the vast forested
interior of South America. The course of the river is
most uncertain and with every flood the pilots of the
river boats must learn the channel all over again, for
the curves and the sand banks change their position con
stantly. Slowly the railway is being pushed up the
valley, but it will take some years to reach Corumba.
Then it will be easy to travel into the very heart of
Paraguay, and explorers and merchants will make known
to us what the great interior spaces contain.
The Great Falls of the Parana. The most interesting
river in South America after the great Amazon is the
Parana (Fig. 26), whose volume is greater than that of
the Mississippi and whose basin contains falls that rival
Niagara. The muddy flood of water that forms the
Pararia comes down through a great primeval wilderness
of swamp and forest, and the borders of the stream are
lined with dense tropical vegetation. In the main the
lower course of the river is very flat and boats may easily
sail against the current; From the deck of a river steamer
one sees distant forest-covered mountain ranges with
hazy blue summits and indistinct outlines. Beyond the
end of the steamer journey one comes to the falls of the
Parana, also called the "Seven Falls" because in time of
low water the broad river is split up into a number of
separate streams. Below the falls the river runs in a
narrow gorge of great depth. Farther up, the Parana
is joined by the IguasSu River. Six miles above the
meeting place of these two streams is one of the most
beautiful falls in the world, the falls of Iguassti, the Indian
name for "Great River." The water rushes over a cliff
of ancient lava more than two hundred feet high, and the
roar of the falling waters may be heard for miles.

190 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

The Life of the Paraguayan People. Paraguay is
far from the sea and its people are so shut off from the
rest of the world that we should scarcely expect them to
live like the inhabitants of more fortunate places. The
greater part of the people of Paraguay are Indians
or mixed descend
ants of the Guar-
ani stock. They
live scattered
throughout the
western or low
land section of
the country in
little groups and
villages. Each
village consists
of huts with
thatched roofs and
walls of mud or
sticks and poles.
The walls need
not be thick,1 for
it is never cold in
Paraguay as it is
in the northern '
part of the United
States. The Par
aguayan babies play on the mud floors of the huts and
out in the sunshine often without any clothing, and men
and women wear only light cotton clothes. At night
those who live in huts sleep in grass hammocks hung from
the roof. To a large extent the people depend upon
fruits for their food, and chief among these are oranges.
Another common food is the manioc. It is a root with a

Fig. 99.

Courtesy of W. D. Boyce
A Paraguayan woman smoking

PARAGUAY 191
white mealy interior that tastes somewhat like a mixture
of flour and potatoes. . It is not so pleasing to the taste
as our potato, but the people use it quite as much as the
potato is used in America.
It takes the traveler a long time to become accustomed
to the general use of tobacco in Paraguay. Women,
and even children and babies, learn to smoke (Fig. 99).
It shocks one to see a pretty girl walking along the street
puffing away at a big fat cigar as if her life depended upon
it. Tobacco is one of the important products. of the
country. It is grown in great quantities and sold in the
form of cigars or cigarettes or in great rolls of twisted
leaves. It is very cheap, of rather poor quality, and some
of it is almost worthless.
Besides the picking "of oranges and the gathering of
mate or Paraguay tea the people of Paraguay herd cattle
on grassy tracts near the river. Most of the cattle are
slaughtered for use in Paraguay,, but in small numbers
they are also shipped in river steamers to the countries
of the south, where they are killed and dressed for the
frozen-meat market or used as fresh beef.
The only large cities are Asuncibn (Fig. 98), the capital,
with ninety thousand people, Villa Rica with twenty-five
thousand, Conception with fifteen thousand, and Villa del
Pilar with ten thousand, and these are very small as most
cities go. Indeed, except for Asuncion they are mere
villages of very poor people. Even in the capital there
are few well-kept houses or offices. The greater part of
the city consists of thatched, mud-walled cabins. They
have a squalid appearance relieved only by the smooth
curve of the. river bank and the wooded hillslopes over
looking the city.

CHAPTER XI
URUGUAY: THE SMALLEST COUNTRY IN
SOUTH AMERICA
The Sparse Population of South America. It is one of
the odd features of some of the South American republics
that they should have such a small number of people.
Ecuador and Bolivia are alike in this respect, and even
more conspicuous are the republics of Paraguay and
Uruguay. In the United States the strong and continuous
westward movement of settlers from the Atlantic coast
made each new group feel that it sprang from a common
stock, and even if the bond at times became weak, still
there was a feeling of unity that has grown with the
passing of time until to-day we are a solid nation of
many millions , even if we are spread rather thinly over a
huge territory.
Although the Spanish and the Portuguese of colonial
times were very widely scattered throughout the south
ern continent they lived in large numbers only in the
most favored localities. Now the physical geography of
South America is such that these favored localities are
in general separated by stretches of territory of so little
value, even at present, as in general to make good natural
boundaries. The Argentine has the greatest extent of
good agricultural land, but the Argentine people are
separated from the Pacific coast by a barren mountain
range, the Andes. The valleys of coastal Peru are
exceedingly fertile, but they are separated from the
equally fertile coast valleys of central Chile by one of the
most barren deserts in the world. The mines of Bolivia
were the centers round which the white settlements of
192

URUGUAY: THE SMALLEST COUNTRY 193
that country first formed, but the mines of Bolivia are
reached only after crossing wide expanses of upland and
mountain country of little value to man.
Even in colonial times interests came to differ partly
because of the differences of climate, soil, and natural
resources, and partly because time increased rather than
diminished the original differences between the several
groups of settlers, if such we may call the adventurers,
gold seekers, and missionaries that first came to South
America. When the wars of emancipation began each
group was eager to break away from Spain and to form
a republic. Had the different groups been nearer each
other, or had they sprung from a- common colonizing
center, they would in all probability have formed a
smaller number of republics; but separated and different
as they were it was natural that each should want to
become a separate nation, not daring to trust its destiny
with a larger group that might neglect it.
Among the smaller republics is Uruguay, with an area
less than twice that of the state of New York. All the
railway lines of Uruguay, if put end to end, would scarcely
reach from St. Louis to Boston. The country has no
navy, and the entire army numbers but five thousand men.
A Country with Little Waste Land. But if Uruguay
is small there is at least hardly any waste land in it. Not
an acre is sterile on account of climate, for the summer
heat and the winter cold, in even the lowest and the
highest places, do not prevent man from occupying all
these regions in all seasons. To be sure some of the land
is marshy and some of it is rocky, but most of it is good
land that may be cultivated almost the whole year
through; and, finally, there is no mountain barrier that
stands between the interior and the coast, as in Brazil;
hence all the land is easily reached by the settler.
13

194 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
A large river, partly navigable, flows along the entire
western boundary of Uruguay, drains the land, and is a
highway to good markets. It also prevents that quar
reling with neighbors about boundary lines which might
lead to war. Coal, iron, and gold are found in small
quantities, but they will never become the basis of great
industries. The lasting resources of the country are its
grazing and agricultural lands.
The Herds and Cowboys of the Ranches. While a
large part of Uruguay could be used for raising grain
only about one sixtieth is actually so used to-day. Almost
the entire energy of the country people is spent in the
raising of cattle and' sheep. No other republic in South
America is so exclusively devoted to the grazing industry
as Uruguay; in none other is the proportion of cow
boys, or gauchos, so large. The land is all near the sea.
Markets are therefore easy to reach at all times, and
many are the herds that these favorable conditions
have brought into existence. Dried-meat and frozen-
meat plants are common; at Fray Bentos, Uruguay, is
one of the largest meat-extract plants in the world, over
four thousand beeves being killed daily. A million and
three quarters of oxhides are exported every year and
almost a hundred thousand bales of wool, besides horse-
hides, hair, tallow, and other animal products in large
quantities. It is one of the peculiar features of a grazing region
that the towns are small and few in number. The people
live so widely scattered that a large number of very small
towns, rather than a small number of large towns, best
serve the needs of the people. Until recently Uruguay
illustrated this principle better than almost any other
country. Among thirty-three inhabited places marked
on the maps of less than half a century ago when grazing

URUGUAY: THE SMALLEST COUNTRY 195
was the sole important industry of Umguay, only six
were at a greater distance than thirty miles from the coast
or from the Uruguay River. When the total number
had increased to ninety-six the interior towns numbered
thirty-seven, but of these by far the greater number were
places of little importance and probably not more than a
round dozen actually deserved the name of town. Hence
on leaving the capital and chief city of the country,
Montevideo (Fig. 100), one plunged suddenly from the
highest civilization to the semibarbarism of the Middle
Ages. The capital with its handsome plazas, boulevards,
and theaters was suddenly exchanged for a grassy wilder
ness of rolling hills, without bridges, roads, fields, groves, or
gardens, and scarcely even a town worthy of the name.
And instead of the people of Montevideo, with their
cultivated manners and modern dress, one found the
gauchos, a race of cowboys, always armed, dressed in the
rudest manner, and while on the whole less wild than
their Argentine cousins they were not always as careful
of the law or even of human life as the more law-
abiding citizens wished them to be.
But with the rapid growth of the grazing industry the
land has become increasingly valuable-arid the ranges are .
not so large as they once were. Furthermore, numbers
of Italian farmers have come into Uruguay recently;
and farmers live in denser groups than ranchmen and
cowboys, for they require less land for a living. Hence
the number of towns (and especially of interior towns) has
increased. Scattered all oyer the country, two,', three,
or more in each " departamgfltoj." are little towns con
taining from four to twenty thousand people. Some
of the towns have modern improvements such as electric
lights, running water, good parks, clean streets, and at
tractive clubs, and life in many of them is truly pleasant.

196 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
The advantages of Uruguay as a home for the farmer,
no less than for the ranchman, are great indeed. In
many new lands the settler must first cut down a forest
and hew his home out of the wilderness before he can let
in the sunlight, raise crops, and make a living.- But in
Uruguay there are no dense forests, only scattered clumps
of trees which may be used for timber. Man need do
nothing in the way of clearing the land, since cleared land .
is already provided for him by nature. On the grassy
downs of this country he may pasture his flocks and herds
without thought of shelter from the weather, and raise
almost any kind of grain that grows.
The Port of Montevideo. Three hundred thousand
people, or about one third of the population of Uruguay,
live on a little point of land between the Rio de la Plata
and a small bay which has become the harbor of Monte
video (Fig. 100). While there are several small ports at
other places on the coast of the country none has attained
much importance . as compared with the capital city.

Courtesy of W. D, Boyce
Fig. 100. Along the docks; Montevideo

URUGUAY: THE SMALLEST COUNTRY 197
Here are gathered most of the people of means and leisure
and one third of the whole population of Uruguay, all the
large buildings, and the shipping, and to this point the
principal railways converge from the Uruguayan plains.
Montevideo would be far more famous if it were not so
near Buenos Aires on the opposite side of the La Plata
estuary. Most of the general business for the interior
goes to the Argentine capital. Montevideo was at first
claimed by the Portuguese and later by Brazil, and has
witnessed many campaigns; in fact, it has been called
"New Troy" on account of the fact that it was once
besieged for nearly ten years (1 842-1 851). While the
harbor of Montevideo has been deepened to accommo
date large ships it is so exposed to the strong southwest
winds of winter that expensive, works have been necessary
to provide adequate shelter.
The Effect of the Wars. However favored a land may
be by nature it cannot become an ideal place in which
to live unless the people who settle in it are peaceful and
law-abiding and put the good of the country before preju
dice and quarreling. Unfortunately, the history of Uru
guay is made up largely of a long record of political troubles
that have stirred the country almost from the time that
independence was gained. It is doubtful if the rule of
old Spain would have done the country more harm than
that independence which to so many has meant merely
a chance to gratify personal ambition and obtain high-
sounding titles or government offices with high salaries.
Several causes lie back of the political unrest of Uruguay.
The early fighting against the Indians had made the settlers
warlike, frequent changes of government had made them
accustomed to political uncertainties, and the presence
of an army tempted every ruler to stay in office through
the unlawful use of military power. Political trouble

198 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
has been endless. "It began before the ink on the
constitution was dry." The history of Uruguay since
1828 has been a history of repeated revolutions, factional
quarrels, and a spirit of nameless unrest; it is full
of disgusting details of coarse politicians trying to get
control of the public purse in the name of patriotism
and making the spoils of office their chief object in life.
Only within the past few years has a better political
spirit been growing among the people. In 1903 the rival
party to the government made its last serious effort to get
control of national affairs, but the revolutionists were
driven out, their leader, Aparicio Saravia, killed, and a
degree of security given to the country which it has never
before enjoyed in its long history. Respect for the law
and the constitution is growing, the people are acquiring
a broader and a better outlook on affairs, and with political
peace the country will not be long in attracting industries
which up to this time have been shy of such a troubled
home. To all the internal troubles must be added those due
to the position of Uruguay between Brazil and the Argen
tine. Its geographic position makes it another Belgium.
Located between- two powerful and over-shadowing
neighbors, each greedy for its rich farming and grazing
grounds, Uruguay was claimed and indeed, for short
periods, governed by first one and then the other of its
neighbors. But the very presence of two powerful
neighbors instead of one has preserved the integrity of the
country. Each' in turn, wishing to prevent its rival from
acquiring this land, became the partisan of Uruguay when
the other became its enemy. In 1859 a treaty was signed
between the Argentine and Brazil that prevented both
from interfering with the independence of Uruguay when
hostilities between the big rivals were in progress.

CHAPTER XII
BRAZIL: THE COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS
A Big Country with Varied Interests. Brazil has often
been called the land of coffee, and indeed this is the chief
product of the country (Fig. 101); but also within the
borders of Brazil is the land of rubber — the Amazon
Basin. Were one to visit the interior uplands of southern
Brazil one would find there neither coffee nor rubber but
great herds of cattle, horses, and mules grazing upon rich
pastures. This section one would have to call the land of
cattle. In a few districts the people are talking and
thinking about neither coffee, nor rubber, nor even cattle,
but minerals. They live in the land of mines.
So great are all these industries and so many people are
interested in them that it would hardly be fair to call
Brazil by any one of these names: it is rather the land
of many lands. Other countries also have a variety of

Fig. i oi. Picking coffee, Brazil. 199

. Courtesy of the Pan-American Union
Typical plantation scene

200 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
interests and industries, but in no other country of South
America is the variety so large. Bolivia has hundreds of
men interested in rubber, but Brazil has thousands. For
every herd of cattle that Colombia supports, Brazil has
scores; for every cargo of coffee produced in Venezuela,
Brazil produces dozens. Brazil is a land not only of
many interests but also of big interests.
One reason for these wide differences and for these
great interests lies in the size of the country. It embraces
half a continent, just as the United States occupies nearly
half of North America. That is one reason why we have
orange trees in Florida and spruce trees in Maine, glaciers
in the mountains of Washington and deserts in Arizona,
wheat fields in Dakota and cotton fields in Mississippi.
We, too, live in a land of many interests, where people
in large numbers are doing widely different things. We
are the Brazil of North America, after a fashion, as
Brazil may roughly be said to be the United States of
South America.
Including Indians, Brazil has more than twenty million
people, or about as many as Spain, and more than a
third as many as live in the United Kingdom. No
state in the United States is so large as the territory of
Amazonas at the western end of the Amazon Basin, which
covers seven hundred and thirty-two thousand square
miles, or almost three times the area of Texas. Amazonas
is so large that if all of the 1,600,000,000 people of the
world, men, women, and children, were gathered within
its borders, and the land evenly divided among them,
each one would have a square plot one hundred and
fifteen feet on a side. If one started to walk about
Brazil, and walked twenty miles each day, it would take
eight hundred days, or several months more than two
years, to complete the trip, for it is sixteen thousand miles

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS 201
along its borders, or more than halfway around the world.
A country as large as Brazil has many interests because
it extends into many climates, and each kind of climate
has its own particular kind of products. From north to
south Brazil is more than two thousand miles long;
from east to west it is more than two thousand miles
wide in its widest part. These figures mean that while
one end of Brazil lies near the equator, the other end lies
well within the edge of the temperate zone; that though
some places are near the sea, others are so far away that
to reach them requires weeks of travel by the fastest
means in the country; that there is room for great moun
tain ranges which affect the temperature and rainfall;
that there are mighty rivers, many Indian tribes, many
kinds of animals, trees, shrubs, and insects.

Courtesy of the Pan-American Union
Fig. 102. Railroad bridge near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This railroad
is one of the great pieces of engineering work in South America

202 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
The Little-known Xingu Valley. Far in the interior of
South America and almost in the center of that continent
is the valley of the Xingu,1 a river which flows northward
from the central region of Brazil. It is located in the
least explored part of the country and has been visited
by only a few explorers at long intervals. Here we
find some of the lowest tribes of Brazil. It will help us
understand how vast is the great interior of the country
to look at the life of these remote people, still unaffected
by the civilized whites of the coastal states. In 1884 a
party of Germans made a somewhat careful study of the
river and the people who dwell along it. This expedition
found that the Xingu and its branches are inhabited by
eighteen different Indian tribes which number in all about
two thousand people. The so-called "tame" Bakairi,
one of the Xingu tribes, resemble the farming population
in other parts of Brazil in that they are engaged in
agriculture and cattle raising. These people sell their
produce to the traders from the towns, and have lost all
connection with their savage brothers among the other
Xingu tribes.
The Yurunas .have had a great deal of intercourse
with the people of Brazil and as a result they are the
most civilized of the Xingu tribes. Their commerce
with the whites consists chiefly in the exchange of their
strong canoes — hollowed from the single trunks of great
trees — for tools and beads. Their small huts are built
on little rocky islands in midstream, generally near a
fall or a rapid. In this location they have a natural
defense against their old and bitter enemies, the maraud
ing Carajas, who roam through the woods and along
the streams of all the country between the two princi
pal rivers, the Xingu and the Tocantiris. They are
'Pronounced sh£N god'.

Plate VII. Mean January rainfall

CARIBBEAN SEA

' —

-

<J

\

\

*

1 *'/*

Gulf of Sim Matias

'/ate

V

\

ay of San Jcni

^

SOUTH AMERICA
(RELIEF)
SCALE, 700 Miles = 1 Inch
0 1"0 200 i'>1 400

Plate VIII. A relief map of South America

Copyright, 1915, by Rand McNally it Co.

Central r;SS£.,-V . •
America) J> .,<=?' "* -
3. e6 ¦<!»»' -

K\J^f f^Jm'k

Less than I" Qgfr 4" to 8"
1" to 2 " r" .S"'i0 /a"
2" to 4" ^^ 13" to ib"
lb" and over

0»° ,y»s°

(l ) fl ^7/ 1 \ Wis*) ^7-iC."
,y 1?*.bosota ( ,A_, — '1': i.'^^^s^f.'-
"t! AppLOMBIA X7~A

^Q*

Huascaran A, Wfc

RITI5M/ " / -J,v.
,V, |OUTCHVp,ftr«
}C}UIANA/\ - ,],, -1""

Plate IX. Mean July rainfall

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OP MANY INTERESTS 203
accustomed to the river from childhood, because of the
places where they build their homes; hence they make
excellent pilots. In their stout canoes they are able to
navigate even dangerous rivers at great speed.
In the region of dense forests and barren uplands along
the upper waters of the Xingu the use of metal is entirely
unknown; the tribes still live in the stone age of culture.
The forest trees are felled with stone axes and a clearing
is made for their small plantations. Stone drills are used
in perforating their shell ornaments, and for knives they
use the sharp teeth of the piranha, a river-fish. Domestic
animals are entirely unknown except pet parrots and a
few other birds. They are ignorant of the banana in all
its varieties, also of sugar cane and rice. The world of
their religion is limited to the upper waters of the Xingu
and the Tapajos. They have no idea of God, but believe
in a soul that goes wandering about during sleep and after
death. At least one tribe has been living so much apart
from all the rest that it has developed a language quite
unlike that of any other in South America, although at
one time it must have had a speech like that of some
parent tribe from which it came.
The White Population in Brazil. Although the Portu
guese were the original owners of the country — a prince
of Portugal was the first king of the short-lived Brazil
ian empire— and although descendants of Portuguese
are to-day the ruling class, it is surprising to leam
that there are only a few million of them in all Brazil.
There are also one and a half million Italians and a
quarter of a million Germans, besides considerable
numbers of Spaniards, Turks, Russians, French, Austrians,
and others.
To-day one finds also a' large number of blacks in
Brazil; there are towns in which they form two thirds of

204 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

the whole population. Bahia (Figs. 103 and 104) has
often been called the city of blacks. There is no color
line as we know it in the United States to-day. Whites
and blacks mingle as freely as the whites. Perhaps one
good reason for this is the fact that out of a total popula
tion of more than
twenty million
people • there are
but six millions of
white blood.
The Winds and
Mountains of Bra
zil. Since climate
— the immediate
cause of the dif
ferent interests of
Brazil — depends
so much upon wind
systems and relief
it will be well to
see what are the
climatic effects
produced by the
mountains and
winds of the
country. We already know that the Amazon Basin is
exceedingly flat. We need also to know that the Amazo%
Basin includes roughly the northern half of the country.
The southern half is not low like the Amazon valley but
stands several thousand feet above the sea and has many
small and some large irregularities; it is a great plateau
with a number of mountain ranges extending across it.
The mountains are highest near the sea, and form a coastal
fringe that walls off the interior from the strip of lowland

Pig. 103.

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Looking across the bay from the
port of Bahia, Brazil

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS 205
on the coast (Plate VIII). Their different portions bear
different names — Serra do Mar, Serra da Mantiqueira,
and others, — but for our purpose let us call them the coast
ranges. All the way from Cape Sao Roque at the east
ernmost point of Brazil to the southern end of the country,
these mountains furnish a picturesque background to the
coastal lands (Plate II). J/
The winds of eastern and southeastern Brazil are the
so-called southeast trades that blow the year round. They
strike the coast of Brazil squarely after traversing the
ocean, and a large part of the moisture which they carry
is thus deposited on the seaward slopes\pf the coastal
mountains, where it falls as rain. Since the trades blow
constantly the seaward slopes of the mountains have
almost daily rains; but since the winds blow with greater
velocity and constancy at some seasons than at others
there is more rain at one time than at another. The
rainy season lasts through the southern summer (our
winter); during the rest of the year there is some rain
(Plates I, VII, and IX), but it falls in moderate amounts.

Courtesy of the Pan-American Union
Fig. 104. Bahia, one of the coastal cities of Brazil

206 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

The Seasons of Rain. Important differences in the
time at which the rainy season occurs are brought about
by the fact that the trade-wind belt is not fixed from
one year's end to the other. It migrates north and
south with the sun, sometimes by great and again by
small distances. This
change in the position
of the trade-wind belt
affects the force of the
winds and the amount
of the rainfall as well
as the time during
which the greatest
amount falls. The
rainy season does not
therefore always occur
at all places through
out Brazil at the same
time. At Rio de Janeiro the rains fall chiefly from
November to March; at Pernambuco (Figs. 105, 106, 107)
they fall from April to June; and on the Amazon lands
from December to May (Plates VII and IX) . It is interest
ing to know that the southeast trades serve the purpose of
man not only through the rain they bring to the useful
plants which man cultivates but also by the aid they give
to navigation. In the interior they enable sailing-vessels-
and canoes on the Amazon to drive before the wind up to
the head of navigation. Since the trade winds blow more
strongly by day than by night, those going, up river in
canoes or sailboats travel chiefly by day, when the wind
helps them along; those going downstream often travel
by night, since the wind does not then offset the-current.
Though there are well-marked dry and wet seasons there
are also sharp differences in each season between the

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Fig. 105. Ox carl in Pernambuco,
Brazil

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS 207
rainfalls of successive days. A moderate rainfall may
change to a violent downpour lasting for weeks at a time.
At long intervals tropical hurricanes may strike the coast,
as at Rio in iS^ when ships were torn from their
anchors and hundreds of lives were lost..
The Droughts of Ceara. One of the most interesting
facts about the rainfall of Brazil is the way in which the
mountains shield certain places from rain. One such
region in the rain shadow of the mountains is the deep
valley of the Sao Francisco, where the dryness is extreme.
The plants look much like those of the Sahara, with thick
leathery leaves capable of withstanding long droughts.
Another belt of light rainfall occurs northwest of Cape
Sao Roque, where the general northwest direction of the
coast happens to correspond with the course of the

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Fig. 106. Shipping at the port of Pernambuco, Brazil

208 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
southeast trades. The winds therefore do not blow across
the mountains, as they do farther south, but in the same
direction. Thus they give up but little of their moisture
and the country is, on the whole, very dry.
At times the. dryness of the region northwest of Cape
Sao Roque is extreme and the people actually suffer.
Such was the case in the state of Ceara at the close of
the eighteenth century, when for four years there was
very little rain. The vegetation dried up, springs and
streams ceased to flow, the dry ground cracked open,
and the live stock died, for there were then no plants to
eat and no water to drink. Many people left the region
and went to more favored places ; those who stayed were
brought, to the verge of starvation. Such periods of
extreme dryness are bound to return — indeed, less extreme
droughts occur every few years — and make the land far
less safe than that south of the cape. The government is
therefore building dams and canals for water storage and
irrigation. When completed its projects will enable the peo
ple to avoid the extreme effects of the recurrent droughts.

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Fig. 107. Inner harbor at Pernambuco, Brazil

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS 209
The Dry Grasslands of the Plateau. Much more
important than the dry coast north of Cape Sao Roque
are the semi-dry tracts of the great interior plateau that
constitutes almost a quarter of Brazil. The highest
mountains and the greatest rainfall are on the coast near
Rio de Janeiro. It is therefore easy to understand that
there cannot be very much left for the interior. The
moderate rains that fall upon the interior plateau support
a growth of vegetation different from that of any other
part of Brazil. It is a mixture of grass and shrubbery;
one traveler says that it looks like an old English orchard.
This is the grassland of southern Brazil, the land of
cattle (Plates I and XI).
The Hot and the Cool Places. The southeastern shore
of Brazil is constantly fanned by the southeast trades and
here, therefore, we find the coolest places and most of the
people. Down near the shore at the foot of the coast
ranges, where are most of the ports and large cities, it
is very hot in spite of the trade winds. It is the great
heat and moisture of the low country along the shore that
•cause unheal thf ul ¦ conditions and the numerous diseases
— malaria, yellow fever, rheumatism, and scrofula —
which have given Brazil .such a bad reputation among the
people of northern lands. In spite of its nearness to
the equator the interior plateau is only moderately hot
throughout the greater part of the summer season,, for
its altitude is great enough to save it from the iatense
heat of either the Amazon lowlands on the north or the
coastal lowlands on the south.
The Cool Region, in Southern Brazil. In the same
country in which great heat and luxuriant tropical vege
tation are common, one would hardly expect to find
a cool region down near the level of the sea. Ecuador,
Peru, and Colombia all have extremes of heat and cold,
14

210 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

but for the heat it is necessary to go to the lands near the
level of the sea, and for the cold to the upper slopes of
the lofty volcanoes. In Brazil, on the other hand, one
finds these contrasts in going, not uphill, but in sailing
southward along the coast. To be sure, southern Brazil
is not a land of bitter cold, but it is so cold that water
freezes on the higher campos or plains on clear winter
riights, and in the states of Santa Catharina and Rio
Grande do Sul cattle have been lost in snowstorms. It
is here that one finds the greatest contrasts between
summer and winter temperatures and something like our
succession of seasons (Plates V and VI) .
In this respect the climate of southern Brazil is far
different from that of the Amazon valley, where the rains
are almost constant and where the heat is almost always
oppressive. Even Rio de Janeiro has relatively little
change of temperature from summer to winter, the dif
ference between these two seasons being less a difference

Courtesy of the Pan-American Union

Fig. 108. Coffee plantation, Brazil

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS 211
of temperature than one of rainfall. But in the south
there are well-marked seasons differing from each other in
respect to cloudiness and temperature though less as to
rainfall; it is a land where winter means not only greater
rainfall but also greater cold.
A New Germany in Brazil. Southern Brazil is unlike
the rest of the country in many other respects. We find
here not only a climate but also a people different from
those in the Amazon valley and in the region about Rio.
The national language of Brazil is not more frequently
heard in southern Brazil than is Italian or German. Brazil
was first owned and settled by the Portuguese, and it
is Portuguese that one hears in the cities along the coast
and in the capital of the country. But in the south one
hears most of the people speaking German or Italian.
Neudorf and Blumenau are names of farming settlements
which suggest not Brazil btit Germany. In fact, there are
so many Germans living in southern Brazil that some
people hastily conclude that Germany will some time own
or claim this part of the country, or that the Germans
will form a republic here, a sort of new Fatherland in
South' America. But the government of Brazil is on- the
whole good, and there is no reason why the Germans should
ever form a separate state. Where the people have no
real grievance a revolution cannot be supported. The
Germans of Brazil, like the Germans of the United States,
will probably always be citizens of the republic in which
they have reared their new homes, however much their
thoughts may turn to the Fatherland.
The Campos. We shall now turn to the interior
grasslands or campos of Brazil in the states of Matto
Grosso and Goyaz, where both climate and industries
are quite unlike those of the low coastal region near Rio,
or the coffee region of Sao Paulo (Fig. 109) or temperate

212 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
southern Brazil in the states of Parana, Santa Catharina,
and Rio Grande do Sul. Wherever we find civilized
man we are sure to find his habits and customs, the way
in which he wins his daily bread, and the nature of his
commerce influenced largely by the kinds of plants that
grow about him. Man depends upon plants for a large
share of his food, and since the useful plants are of many
varieties they require many different kinds of labor.
Man may desire the materials that plants produce, as
the latex of the rubber tree for rubber, or the fiber of
the henequen for sisal hemp, or the nut of the coconut
palm for food. We shall therefore wish to know first
of all what kinds of plants grow in southern Brazil and
then we shall be able the better to understand the life
of the people who dwell there.
The rains of much of the interior plateau are light
and the larger plants form open woods or shrubbery.
The country is chiefly grown up to grass, and here we
find the great pastures and herds of Brazil (Plate XI).
The people of the far interior are therefore ranchmen and
cattle owners chiefly, while those nearer the seacoast are
engaged principally in the growth of coffee (Fig. 108),
rice, and sugar cane.
The Grasses of the Campos. The grass of the campos
is of many varieties, but perhaps the two most important.
kinds are the "goat's-beard" tufted grass and the catin-
gueiro ; the former is of poor quality, but the latter makes
excellent pasturage for cattle and horses. Where the
goat's-beard grass is burnt off and the catingueiro planted
the latter is able to grow in place of the former. In
some places European grasses are successfully raised,
and it is almost certain that with proper care alfalfa and
other forage crops could be grown to provide fodder
during the dry season. In the main, the soil is good

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS 213
throughout this immense area, and although in some
places the rainfall is too light for agriculture without
irrigation, grasses may everywhere be grown in quantities
large enough to support far greater herds of cattle than
one finds there to-day. The region is much better off
than a great deal of the range or cattle country of our
western states, where good crops and many cattle are
produced by the wise use of water and by proper atten
tion to grasses with long roots that go in search of under
ground water.
The government of Brazil is helping the people by ex
perimenting with grains, grasses, and vegetables of all
sorts and in this way is trying to find out just what kind
of plants will do well in a particular kind of soil with a
given amount of rainfall. It is interesting to know that
seeds of wheat and corn are brought from the western
part of the United States, where plants have become ac
customed to dryness, , just as we bring to the United
States many kinds of grain from Asia, where plants have
lived thousands of years in dry places and have learned
to get along with far smaller amounts of water than those
in the wet regions of Europe and the eastern part of
the United States.
"The contrast between the campos (the grasslands of
the interior) and the sea level conditions is remarkable.
The seaward Slopes of the mountains are covered with the
most luxuriant vegetation. The trees are overhung with
moss, . creepers, and parasitic plants of all kinds. The
undergrowth is a tangled mass of low shrubs, bamboos,
and brakes. Palms, which are absent on the campos,
are seen soon after commencing the descent. Then
come banana trees, at first singly and scattering; then
more and more thickly. On the lower slopes, and espe
cially on the lowlands near sea level, sugar cane, banana

214 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
groves, guavas; and paw-paws furnish striking evidence
of the change from the cooler and drier interior upland
campos to the warmer and, rainier seaward slopes where
frost is unknown. The change in temperature and in
humidity during the descent is very striking. It was
significant that the freight on the campos consisted of
cattle, while on the seacoast lowlands cars full of bananas
were attached to the train." (Ward.)
The Rice Farms of the Coast. One of the great sources
of food in Brazil that has been overlooked for many years
is the rice plant. The climate and soil of Brazil are excel
lent for the growing of abundant crops of rice; yet until
a few years ago almost all the rice used by the people was
brought in from other countries, chiefly from the Cape
Verde Islands, the United States, and India. It is as
if we brought our wheat from Egypt instead of growing
it ourselves on the prairies of Dakota, Minnesota, and
other central- western states. Rice was so generally used
by the people of Brazil as a cheap food that the trade in
it amounted to many thousands of tons in the city of Rio
alone, and about a hundred thousand tons in all Brazil.
The higher government tax of later years has made the
rice dearer, and the people are now eating less, and
instead of importing it they are learning to grow it them
selves though still at great expense.
At Moreira Cesar in the state of Sao Paulo a man from
Louisiana is running an experimental rice farm where
students are learning to grow Japanese rice with very good
results. It shows how near we are to other peoples of
the world to-day to learn that a man from Louisiana is
showing some of the farmers of Brazil how to grow
Japanese rice instead of importing rice grown in India,
and brought to Brazil in German and British steamers.
Two kinds of rice are grown, an upland and a lowland

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS 215
variety.- The lowland rice must be irrigated as in Loui
siana and is most conveniently grown in low places; the
upland rice may be sown like any grain, and in the state
of Sao Paulo large quantities of it are produced on strips
of land between the coffee trees.
The Araucaria and Paraguay Tea. Many millions of
years ago there grew on the earth strange trees for the
most part quite unlike those now living. They were
the ancestors of our modern trees and very 'few of them
can now be foUnd. One of those still living is the
araucaria, or monkey-puzzle tree, found in southwestern
Brazil and on both the eastern and western sides of
the Andes Mountains of Chile and the Argentine in lati
tude thirty-five to forty degrees south. A relative of this
tree is the araucaria, or monkey-puzzle plant, grown in
pots indoors in northern climates. The araucaria forests
have little undergrowth. The trees have umbrella-shaped
crowns and straight trunks, valuable for lumber; and the
nuts form an important article of food (Plate XI).
Another plant useful to the people of southwestern
Brazil and neighboring parts of the Argentine, Uruguay,
and Paraguay is the yerba mate or Paraguay tea, which
is not at all a real tea but a kind of holly. The Indians
of the region, at the time the whites first came, crushed
its small dried stems and leaves, added hot water, and
thus obtained a useful drink. The Jesuit missionaries
liked Paraguay tea so much that they adopted the Indian
custom of drinking it.
So important is the growing of mate as a means of
livelihood for many people, and so generally is. mate
used by many people of South America, that we shall
wish to know how the plant grows and how the leaves are
cured. The mate shrub is from ten to twenty feet high.
It grows naturally at an elevation about fifteen hundred

216 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
feet above the sea on the interior plateaus of the states
of Parana and Matto Grosso, and while most of it is
gathered from wild shrubs it is in some places cultivated
on plantations like other useful plants of the region.
It is brought to the preparing factories in burlap or
rawhide bags. After being thoroughly dried in ovens,
it is passed through a number of screens, which separate
the leaves and the stems according to sizes. The coarsest
stems are used as fuel; the less coarse are sold as cheaper
kinds of mate. The leaves are then sorted according to
quality and crushed in machines from which the mate
comes as a fine olive-green powder.
The people who drink mate are very enthusiastic about
it and claim for it far more excellent qualities than tea
and coffee possess. It does not make its users sleepless
and nervous, as tea and coffee do when used to excess, and
it is said to have certain important medicinal qualities.
It is prepared for drinking much like ordinary tea and
may be drunk in a cup if it is carefully strained. The
commoner way, however, is to leave the half -crushed tea
in the cup, and suck up the fluid through a tube called
a bombilla. At the lower end of the tube is a strainer
which keeps out the powder. A bombilla set is prized
somewhat as the American lady prizes her tea set, and
many people otherwise quite poor have beautifully made
sets, the tube in some cases consisting of pure silver and
the cup of carved wood adorned with silver.
Most of the mate produced in Brazil is shipped to the
Argentine, but some is now also shipped to France, where
the people are learning to use it. The Argentine uses
seven times as much mate as coffee, and twenty-six times
as much mate as tea; and the people of Chile, Uruguay,
and Paraguay prefer it to ordinary tea and coffee.
The Soil of Brazil. Some peculiar features of Brazil

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS 217
must be mentioned here to explain the limited fertility
of part of its land. Among them is the absence of the
earthworm. This worm helps to maintain the fertility
of the ground in which it lives by constantly grinding it
up and stirring, the soil as well as by carrying down into
the ground small leaves and the narrow blades of grass
which, upon decay, enrich, the soil. To some extent
the lack of earthworms in the soil of Brazil is made up
by the great numbers of ants that burrow deep into the
ground and cover the surface with their huge homes.
A further disadvantage under which the land produces
plants lies in the fact that' most of the cultivated soil of
Brazil has no true winter season in which the land ' ' sleeps, ' '
that is, does not produce crops. In our country the
winter season is the one in which plant food, the product
of chemical changes in the soil, keeps on gathering for the
next season's growth; in Brazil plants are growing most
or all of the year, and the soil is kept drained of its supply
of plant food.
The Coffee Region of Brazil. Even if Brazil has forested
tracts too dense, for man's conquest, campos too dry for
agriculture, and'coastal lowlands too hot and unhealthful
for man's comfort and safety, the country possesses at
least one unrivaled resource: climate and soil along the
border of the country where the coast is backed by
mountains are among the finest in the world for the
growing of coffee (Fig. 109). To this advantage we must
add another — the lands that produce the best coffee are
located near the sea where short railways connect the
plantations with the sea. This is of the greatest impor
tance in a tropical country like Brazil, for it may happen
in such hot lands that the forests are so dense and the
lands so remote from the sea that railway building is
almost impossible, and though the land would produce

218 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
good crops man is unable to raise them because he cannot
market his products. There is not a single railway in the

After a. map by R. De C. Ward
Fig. 109. Coffee district
whole of the Amazon Basin except the short one recently
built about the rapids of the Madeira (Fig. 136); in the
Mississippi valley, also of great size, there are thousand^
of miles of railways. The mountain streams of Brazil are
swift and unnavigable, yet it is on the slopes of the tropi- .
cal mountains, and on the interior plateaus, that the best
coffee is grown. Railways are required, but railways
are expensive anywhere, and exceedingly expensive in
tropical countries, where labor is scarce and operation
costs are high (Fig. 102).
The climate and soil of Brazil are well adapted to
coffee, insect pests are scarce, the extent of land capable

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS 219,
of growing coffee, is very great, and short railways descend
steeply to sea level. For these reasons Brazil has become
the greatest coffee country in the world, and if one visit
New York harbor and look among the incoming vessels
for a coffee steamer the chances are ten to one that it
has come from Brazil and that the name of a Brazilian
firm will be stamped upon the sacks in which the coffee
is shipped.
The Coffee Ships of the World at the Gates of Brazil.
Many of the countries of the world send vessels to the gates
of Brazil, the harbors of Rio de Janeiro and Santos (Fig.
no). Brazil may be said to levy tribute on all coffee-
importing peoples. Since a large part of the coffee is
shipped to the United States, we are naturally much
interested in- the country of its origin. The best coffee
lands of. Brazil are chiefly in the state of Sao Paulo.
Almost the entire energy of the people of this state is
absorbed in the raising, curing, and shipping of this

1 10. The central market of Santos, Brazil. To this artificial
basin boats come with vegetables from many plantations
for the people of the city of Santos

220 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
single product. It makes one think of the cotton states
of our South, where every cotton grower talks and thinks
chiefly about cotton.
The plantations of Sao Paulo are laid out at elevations
from one thousand to three thousand feet above sea level
and cover thousands of square miles. No other state
is so exclusively devoted to the production of the coffee
berry, since none other has a climate and soil so nearly
ideal. Row upon row of coffee trees stretch out in every
direction; in places they seem almost like a forest. Large
plantations are the rule; some are so large that they have
railroad tracks running through them for the quicker
delivery of the coffee crop to the central warehouses.
The best berries are grown in the famous red soils, their
color being due to the presence of iron — thought to be
beneficial for coffee.
Coffee Planting. The young coffee plant requires
tender care for its best growth. It will wither and die
if left exposed to the hot sun, so the coffee plantations
are in some cases planted to bananas, which grow quickly
and shelter the coffee plant from the direct rays of the
tropical sun. When the coffee bushes are large enough
to take care of themselves the bananas are removed. In
some plantations the coffee is planted among the original
growth of trees and shrubs and when large enough to
take care of itself this growth is cut away. Sometimes
sticks or leaves are put over the youngest plants to pro
tect them from the sun, or they are covered with awnings
of cheap cotton cloth. In Sao Paulo less care need be
exercised over young plants than elsewhere since the sum
mer sun is less powerful here than in the warmer states
farther north. If the plantations are kept carefully
weeded, each tree will produce three or four pounds of
coffee beans every year (Fig. 108).

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS 221
Coffee berries in their natural state are quite unlike the
coffee we see in the grocery stores of this country. The
coffee beans that we know are the roasted seeds of coffee
berries that grow in large clusters close to the limbs
of the low coffee tree or bush and look quite like dark
red cherries. Each berry contains two seeds whose flat
faces are pressed close together; when dried and roasted
these seeds form the coffee bean of commerce. The
trees begin to blossom in December; the berries ripen and
the picking begins in April or May.
Preparing Coffee for Market. When the coffee pickers
bring berries to the factories they are doing only the first
of a long series of tasks necessary to prepare the product
for market. The soft pulp surrounding the berries must
be removed by machines which crush the pulp but do not
harm the hard berry inside. The combined mass of pulp
and seeds is then passed into a cylinder with holes through
which only the coffee beans pass. It reminds one very
much of the screens of a stone-crushing machine, where
the small particles of stone are allowed to pass through
the screen but the large pieces are passed over it into a
separate heap. After this the beans are washed clean
in large tanks from which they come as white as snow.
They must then be thoroughly dried in yards called ter-
reiros, almost like fields, which are paved with cement
that becomes very hot in the sun. Thorough drying
takes several weeks, for if the berries are not perfectly
dry they spoil on the long ocean voyages between Brazil
and the ports of England, Germany, France, and the
United States.
During the drying process the berries are carefully
watched, stirred with wooden rakes, and covered at
night to protect them from the dew or the rain (Fig. in).
In place of the drying courts a new system of steam

222 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
drying has come into use that may soon very largely take
the place of the old method. By it the coffee is thoroughly

Courtesy of the Pan-American Union
Fig. hi. Drying coffee, Sao Paulo, Brazil
dried in a few hours and the long delay and uncertainty
and the great cost of the old system are done away with,
though the coffee is not always improved in quality.
When perfectly dry the beans are placed in machinal
that remove the white outer skin and expose the olive-
green surface of the berry that we know so well. Still
another treatment must be undergone before the beans
are ready for shipment. They are of different sizes,,' and
must be sorted and graded by passing through sieves of
different sizes, from which the coffee runs out in tubes
and finally into bags containing one hundred and thirty-
two pounds each. In this form it is ready for shipmffl|£
(Figs. 112 and 113). ¦ ."*
The Villages of the Coffee Plantations. So long a
series of treatments and such large estates require a great
many men, and in some places one finds the laborers
of a single estate numbering thousands. In general,

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS 223

these live in villages, and the village life of the coffee
estates is quite distinct from the life of the great cities on
the coast. There are large stores where laborers buy food,
a bakery where they may purchase bread, a foundry,
and often a sawmill where is sawed the lumber out of
which their little one-story houses are built. Formerly
the coffee plantations were worked by slaves, negroes
brought from Africa as once they were brought into
our country for the cotton and sugar plantations of the
South. But, following the example of most slave-holding
countries, the Brazilians in the year 1888 set all the
blacks free. There were at that time about a half million
slaves in Brazil, and the sudden freeing of all these people
was a severe blow to both the coffee and the sugar
industries. Many of the negroes thought freedom meant that

Courtesy of the Tan-American TJnion
Coffee warehouse, Santos, Brazil. Weighing and storing
coffee in preparation for shipment abroad

224 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

they would not have to work at all, and many of them
became loafers and criminals in the large towns to which
they drifted. After a time some of the negroes regarded
their freedom more sensibly and Went back to work on
the plantations. To add to the number of laborers the
government made it easy for foreigners to enter the coun
try, and to-day one finds them in thousands on the coffee
estates, where the Italians especially make excellent work
men. The negroes once slaves, or the descendants
of slaves, are still too largely gathered in the towns
where, as in Bahia for instance, they form a surprisingly
large part of the total population. Bahia looks indeed
like a city of negroes, more African than Brazilian.
The Region of Mines. North of Rio de Janeiro is
one of the most important provinces of Brazil, for it is
the center of the mining industry, "the region of mines."
Its name is easy to remember for it is Minas Geraes,

Fig. 113.

Courtesy of W. D. Boyeo
coffee for the United States market, Santos

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS 225
which means general or universal mines. Mines of gold,
silver, copper, and iron are found in it, and the product
of only that part of it nearest the seacoast may be sent
easily to the markets of the world, a rare thing in South
America. There are a few railways in the province, but
more are needed to complete the connection with the
coast and enable people the better to develop the interior.
While gold is now the chief product of the mines the
diamond industry is quite as famous. The diamonds
are, however, not nearly so valuable as those from South
Africa. They are black in color and are used chiefly in
diamond drills for rock boring.
The city of Diamantina is the center of the diamond
and gold mining country and may be reached in two
ways. One may leave the railway at Curvello and take
a mule train for the three or four days' journey that sepa
rates the city from the end of the railway, or one may
leave the railway at Curalinho farther north and go by
coach and wagon. -Either way is exceedingly difficult
and shows not only how hard it is to get provisions and
machinery 'to the city, but also with what trouble the
exports are sent away. American rough-road wagons are
being brought in gradually and have helped greatly in mak
ing the movement of men and goods cheaper and easier.
It is rather striking, on leaving the United States far
behind, to go to the end of the railway in Minas Geraes,
take a mule train to the Jequitinhonha River country,
and find there American wagons. It recalls the fact
that before the end of the railway in southern Peru had
reached Cuzco, the old capital of the Inca empire, one
could ride from "trie railway. to Cuzco in a Cincinnati
surrey. It is like going to Egypt to ride behind a Baldwin
locomotive made in Philadelphia, or to Siberia to cross
an iron or steel bridge made in Connecticut.
15

226 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
Iron Mines and their Influence on Future Develop
ment. Far more important than any other mineral
resources of Brazil are the iron mines of Minas Geraes,
where it has been estimated that there are two billion
tons of iron ore. The high-grade massive hematite and
the thin-bedded laminated hematite, or jacutinga, con
taining sixty-three to sixty-nine per cent iron, make up
a tonnage which is probably nearly as great as the reserve
of iron ore left to-day in the Lake Superior region of the
United States. Some individual deposits contain several
hundreds of millions of tons. As the district is only a
little over three hundred miles north of Rio de Janeiro and
the ore may be hauled down hill on a railway already
built to Rio and another partly completed from the port
of Victoria north of Rio de Janeiro, the future should see
large shipments of iron ore to the United States and
Europe. If large quantities of coal are ever found in
Brazil, or if electric smelting becomes effective, there is
no reason why Brazil should not have a great iron and
steel manufacturing industry and make its own steel
rails, locomotives, bridges, steel buildings, sewing ma
chines, and ships as well as those of the Argentine and
other parts of South America.
How the Mines have Helped the Farms. One indus
try often helps another, and this principle is well shown
in the manner in which the mines of Minas Geraes have
helped farming and grazing. The forage for mules and
the provisions for men that work in the mines require
considerable work on the part of people who do not mine
but who depend on the farm and the ranch for a living.
Some sections of Minas Geraes are like many of the
settlements in Nevada where mining is an important
industry. The men in the mines, require food, and asso
ciated with each group of mines are people who are not

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS 227
miners but who depend for a living on the supplies they
sell to the miners. American agricultural machinery is
being slowly introduced into Minas Geraes to better the
farming conditions and supply cheaper food to the mines.
The province has immense herds of cattle and mules
that graze on the campinas or upland prairies, besides
many flocks of sheep; its soil is fertile and, when properly
cultivated, yields valuable crops, and its forests contain
choice timber, balsams, drugs, and dye woods.
Although Minas Geraes is most celebrated for its
mines, its most valuable product is coffee; it also pro
duces sugar, tobacco, and cotton. We must not suppose
'that because gold and diamonds in even large quantities
are found in any region that they represent the most
valuable riches of the country. The richest diamond or
gold region in the world does not produce in the long run
anything like the riches that are to be found in the soil.
Vast Forests and Little Lumber. One of the greatest
of the resources of Brazil is its large and varied supply
of useful woods.' With the rapid increase in the past
few hundred years of the civilized peoples who use wood,
the forests of the north temperate zone are gradually
disappearing and the supply becoming too small to
satisfy the needs' of the people. England imports most
of the wood used in that country; Germany imports
vast amounts in spite of the fact that her forests are well
cared for; and even with our great forests in the United
States care must be taken lest in a few years we have not
enough wood to supply our rapidly increasing population.
But down in the heart of Brazil is a vast forest where
'man will never extensively clear the ground for agricul
ture, or at least will not clear it for centuries to come.
Here are to be found woods of many kinds for many uses
and to an increasing extent these woods are being shipped

'MMfh

228 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
to the people of northern countries. Mahogany is used
for making furniture, for trirrimings in houses and boats,
and as a substitute for hard woods such as walnut, maple,
and oak; many kinds of tropical cedars are now brought
into northern countries for making boxes, and to some
extent also in making furniture; there are also imported
dyewoods and various other woods from which drugs are
obtained (Plate XI).
The rich vegetable growth of tropical lands, with their
abundant rains, must not lead us to suppose that lumber
can be easily obtained in the Amazon valley. We hear
so much about the dense tropical forests of Brazil that
we may find ourselves having wrong notions about, the
timber and lumber resources of the region. The forests
are indeed vast, and they are truly dense, but if one looks
through them for a particular wood, one finds that trees
of a kind do not- grow in groves or over vast areas to the
exclusion of all other trees, as is the case to a large extent
with the trees and forests of the United States. One will
find a rubber tree here and a cedar there, and beyond
the cedar a tangle of vines ; or only a clump of mahogany
trees in one place and another clump a long way off and
separated from the first clump by dense thickets of vines
and bushes or by useless trees. Lumbering in a trop
ical forest is therefore very hard work and very expen-'
sive. The difficulties of tropical forestry are further increased
by the fact that the streams are the only highways on
which the timber can be transported, and therefore lum
bering can be done only on the banks of the streams or
very close to them. The marshy ground does not make'
it possible to put the timber on wagons and haul it out
to the river even if an opening be cut through the wall of
vegetation. Further, when the different kinds of logs

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS 229
are brought to the banks of the streams, many are so
heavy that they cannot be 'floated to the mill like the
timber in this country.
The Name "Brazil" from a Kind of Wood. It is a
pleasing thought that the country having the greatest
single expanse of tropical forest in the world should have
derived its name from a kind of wood. When the news
reached Portugal early in the sixteenth century that
there was a great land mass to the southeast, Emanuel,
the king, asked Americus Vespucius to explore the coun
try, and gave him three, vessels for the service. In the
second voyage of this explorer (after whom America was.
named) he reached the coast of South America, anchored
in a safe harbor, and for five months rested and kept up
a trade with the Indiaris. On -his return he brought to
Portugal a cargo of brazilwood. This had been used as
a dyewood for three hundred years before the discovery
of America and was one of the precious substances brought
from India by the great traders of Venice and Genoa.
When it became known that brazilwood grew abundantly
in the tropical forests in this part of South America, the
name Brazil came gradually into use as the name of the
country from which the brazilwood was obtained, and
Brazil it has been ever since.
The Wonderful Carnauba Tree. Among the other
valuable woods of Brazil perhaps the most wonderful in
its general service to man is the carnauba tree, which
grows naturally in a large territory in the eastern seacoast
states. It is always green and vigorous even in times of
long and severe drought. Its roots produce a medicine
as good as sarsaparilla, its stem affords strong, light fibers
which have a beautiful luster, and it serves also for timbers
and rafters for houses and for stakes used in making fences.
Wine and vinegar as well as sugar and starch are made

230 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
from parts of the tree. In those places that have periods
of drought, as Ceara and Parnahyba, the poorer classes
depend upon it to a great extent for food when their
ordinary supply gives out. Its fruit is also used for
feeding cattle. The pulp of the wood has a pleasant taste,
and the milky nut is sometimes used in place of coffee.
Hats, baskets, brooms, and mats are made from the straw
obtained from its leaves. The straw is also used for
thatching houses, and some of it is shipped to other parts
of Brazil and even to Europe, where it is used in the
manufacture of hats. The pith of the tree may be used
as a substitute for cork ; salt is extracted from it, and also
an alkali used in the manufacture of common soap.
Perhaps the most important use of all is the wax derived
from the leaves and made into candles in common use
throughout Brazil.
The Most Beautiful City in South America. The
natural beauty of the city of Rio de Janeiro is far greater
than that of all but a few of the most beautiful cities of the
world. Viewed from the sea it is a Naples or a Constanti
nople; the islands in the harbor of Rio are like the
choicest bits of the ^Egean islands or the entrancing islets
of the Azores; while the steep mountains that encircle the
bay have all the beauty and grandeur of the Norwegian
fiords combined with the lavish color and beauty of dense
tropical vegetation. Nature has given the city a setting
that surpasses the imagination. And in the few details
in which nature might be said to be imperfect, man
has changed nature and so completed the beauty of
the picture and made Rio the wonder and admiration
of all travelers. The wonder is the greater because we of
the northern half of the earth have so poor a notion of
the great cities in the southern hemisphere. We are
told that more than ninety per cent of all the people of

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS 231

the world live in the northern hemisphere, and from this
statement we get the wrong idea that all the interesting
cities are to be found in the lands north of the equator.
The Old and the New Rio. It is worth while to know
that the city of Rio has been made more beautiful since
man has adapted it to the natural beauty of the islands,
the sea; and the encircling hills (Fig. 114). Twenty years
ago it consisted of a more or less disjointed group of small
villages thrust between the mountains on the west side of
a great bay. Some of the settlements clung to the edge
of the land, others ran 'far up along the small valleys
between the hills, or upon their lower slopes. There
were a few- beautiful' parks and buildings, and while
the whole effect of the city was beautiful it lacked unity
as well as adaptation to the surrounding landscape.
I It was no child's play to remodel the city. Sixty
million dollars had to be raised. No such change was
ever made in any other city of the world, except perhaps

Courtesy of the Pan-American Union

Fjg. 114. Botafogo, Avenida Beiro Mar, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

232 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
when Peter the Great built Petrograd up on the frozen
marshes of the Neva or when Paris was cut through and

Courtesy of the Pan-American Union

Fig. 115. Avenida Central, Rio de Janeiro, u. street widened at great
expense and in harmony with the surroundings
through by a half-dozen great avenues. The work was
begun in September, 1903. First there was constructed
a quay more than two miles long, following the general
curve of part of the shore. Inside the quay there was
built a broad avenue parallel to the shore and more than
four miles, long. Both quay and avenue are among
the most prominent features in a general view of the city.
A canal known as the Mangue was straightened and
extended toward-the sea and flanked by an electric-lighted
avenue nearly two miles long and one hundred and
thirty-one feet wide. The streets were paved with
asphalt, the sewer and water-supply systems were enlarged
and perfected to do away with the scourge of fever,
certain hills were cut down, and there was built a great
central avenue, called the Avenida Central, or Rio Branco,

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS 233

more than a mile, long and one hundred and eight feet
wide, bordered by trees and beautiful and, imposing
buildings (Figs. 115 and 117). The view of the harbor and
city that one may obtain from the top of the Corcovado
and the Pao de Assucar (Sugar-loaf) is perhaps the most
wonderful of all the celebrated views of natural wonders
in the world. The tops of these two striking, steep-
walled peaks may be reached, the one by rail, the other
by an aerial tramway which carries one out over the
forest and to trie summit, from which one looks down upon
the city arid its beautiful suburb, Botafogo — almost as
from an aeroplane or an airship (Figs. 114 and 116).
Why Brazilians are so fond of Rio. One can under
stand, the pride of the people of Rio in. their city when one
remembers that it is by far the largest and the most
beautiful city in the whole country. In spite of the fact
that Brazil contains more than twenty million people it has

' -.;¦#? Yl*M' '¦' ' '(SEw „,
- ,.¦.. ¦ ***** W ¦;?$0$fggfi&&m--

.Courtesy of the Pan-American Union
Fig. 116. View of Rio de Janeiro, city and harbor, Brazil. The
ioolh-shaped island in the bay is called the Sugar-loaf

234 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

but six cities with a population exceeding one hundred
thousand. And among these cities Rio is not only much

.¦¦¦¦¦" *-
§,.,#,

*m

* "^

Courtesy of tile Pan-Ainei-ican Union
Fig. 117. Monroe Palace, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Where the
third International American Conference was held
the largest, but also thes second largest in all South Amer
ica, with mpye than a million people. It is, therefore,
the second largest city in the southern hemisphere. In
the three great provinces of Amazonas, Goyaz, and
Matto Grosso in the great interior of Brazil, which have
a combined area almost exactly half as great as the area
pf the United States, there are only three cities — Manaos,
Goyaz, ,: and Cuyaba — with a population exceeding ten
thousand. . ' -'
| The Famous Harbor at Rio. The bay of Rio de Janeiro
is one of the great scenic features of the world. It
forms a bottle-shaped entrance to the city and the adjacent
lands; and the largest steamers of the world find here

BRAZIL: COUNTRY OF MANY INTERESTS 23s
deep water and capacious anchorage grounds. To the
left of the. entrance to the famous bay are a number of
fantastic hills that look strikingly like a recumbent
human figure and have therefore been called "The Stone
Man." The curious "Sugar-loaf" forms the feet, and the
"Gavia" the face in profile. "The bay itself presents
one of the grandest prospects it is possible to imagine.
Huge granitic piles, assuming the most eccentric outlines,
present steep slopes which rise sheer above the surface
and take on either side of the entrance the aspect of
natural fortresses." (Keane.) Except for the narrow
entrance the bay is landlocked; and it is studded with
many islands and rocky crags, some of which are fortified,
as are also some of the surrounding hills. No other bay
in the sotvthem hemisphere, except that at Sydney,
New South Wales, is at once so beautiful and so service
able as the bay of Rio de Janeiro.
The slopes of the mountains that inclose the bay of
Rio de Janeiro are covered with a forest of tropical trees
and shrubs. There is an almost endless variety of palms,.
long creepers festoon the giant trees, beautiful flowers
and brightly colored insects supply gorgeous colors, and
ferns and mosses add a touch of delicate beauty that
perfects the scene.
The Long Barrier Reef of Brazil. Fringing the eastern
shore of Brazil for several hundred miles is a long reef
known as the barrier reef of Brazil. Toward the south
it is composed chiefly of coral. The northern part of it
is one of the unique features not only of Brazil but of
South America, since it consists not of coral but of hard
sandstone. It is explained by supposing, that the heavy surf onCe
threw up a long reef of sand such as the reefs that now
occur along the eastern coast of the United States from

236 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
Long Island to Texas. Back of the reef thus formed
countless millions of small sea organisms lived, and their
decaying bodies furnished an acid that with the salt of
the sea water formed a cement. In past ages the cement
hardened the sand and transformed it into sandstone.
Some sections of the reef are just at the water surface,
others stand some distance above, and still others are
quite submerged. In places one may walk along it for
miles without stepping into the water. The constant
beating of the waves has broken it here and there, but
on the whole the breaks occur only where rivers from the
land have kept open a passage.
Within the reef and between it and the mainland there
is a long strip of water as calm and peaceful as the water
of the outer edge is rough. The harbor of Pernambuco
(Fig. 107) is not only formed by the lagoon behind the
sand reef, but it is also protected from the heavy seas by
the reef itself, which in this case has been raised higher
by a stone wall and thus converted into a breakwater
half natural, half artificial.
We need to know one other fact about this part of the
Brazilian coast to understand the harbors. The land
was once higher than now; and while it stood at the
higher elevation the rivers cut their valleys deep below
the level of the coastal plateau which they drain. Later
on the land was depressed, or drowned as geographers
say; each river valley was entered by the sea and its
lower course enlarged into a bay. For this reason every
river has a sort of pouch-shaped lower portion, on whose
shores cities have grown up and into which boats may
sail.

CHAPTER XIII
AMAZONIA: LAND OF GREAT FORESTS
AND RIVERS
A Spanish Admiral's Opinion of the Amazon. Over
three hundred and fifty years ago, Lope de Aguirre, an
admiral of Spain, made a long voyage down the Amazon
and, upon reaching the coast, sent a letter to his king,
Philip II, telling him about the river. So difficult had
been the journey that the admiral finished his letter by
saying, "God knows how we got through that great mass
of water. I advise thee, O great king, never to send
Spanish fleets into that cursed river." This advice is
worth recalling here to show how difficult is the great
Amazon, with its shifting channels and sand bars, its
plague of insects, and its great heat. In all these three
hundred and fifty years man has really learned little
about the river except at those places where the valuable
rubber tree is found. Many a village on the Amazon and
its tributaries was wholly unknown until rubber was dis
covered in the region, and to-day remains unvisited by
boats except those propelled by the paddle and the oar.
;fl "It flows at times for hundreds of miles without passing
a human habitation; or if here and there, along this
desolate stretch,, smoke arises to show that human beings
are sheltered^ beneath the roof of the rude hut that barely
shows itself- amid the tropical green,, it will come from the
fire of a half- savage',, or of a runaway slave who has hid
den himself in the fastnesses of the forest, away from his
enemy, the white man. Attempts have been made to set
tle the river, but the Jesuits, indefatigable as they were,
failed-; and the people of [our] South who at the close of
237

238 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
the war came to Santarem, were equally unsuccessful. It
remains to-day, as it has been for ages, silent and mys
terious, its banks unfrequented, and its waters unknown."
(Church, 1878.) Though this description was written
long ago it is as true of a great part of the Amazon
Basin now as then, and serves to bring out the fact that
there are but few people in all this vast tract of alter
nating forest and stream (Fig. 118.)
The Great Amazon. The mouth of a great river is
often the gateway to a great country. In the vast interior
of South America one may travel for days, even weeks,
across or up or down stream after stream, large and
small, and' find everywhere that the water is moving
toward a common line, the Amazon. The entrance to
this all but trackless interior is the mouth of the Amazon
north of Para. It is therefore not without reason that
the people of Para, speak of the Amazon as the Mediter
ranean of South America. One may sail or steam up
its wide mouth as up a great arm of the sea and not be

Fig. 118. Settlement on the Amazon River. Dense tropical
vegetation and heavily thatched houses

AMAZONIA: LAND OF FORESTS AND RIVERS 239
able to make out either bank, so distant.,from each other
are the opposite sides of the river. One might put the
whole of Scotland into the mouth of this river and leave
only a little piece projecting.
The Amazon discharges more water than any other
river in the world. It drains an area about the size of,
all Europe. Its great yellow flood of waters from hundreds '
of. sources discolors the sea for nearly a hundred miles
from land. Long before the shores of Brazil are visible
the blue of the tropical sea has changed into the murky
brown or yellow that denotes land and the work of a'
great river. The depth of the river is in places onehunj-
dred and twenty feet. Its current move's at /a ^speed.ot
two and one-half miles an hour, and the smaller, boats
going upstream hug the bank to avoid it, while those going)
downstream sail in midchannel. ,
It is extremely riard to realize-how flat-is the Amazon
channel for the last five hundred miles of its course, or
from the Pas de Obispo to' its mouth. In this distance;
the river "falls" but one eighth of an inch a mile! Wo,
are accustomed to think of the Mississippi as having a
very flat course from Cairo to the Gulf, with a grade of
three or four inches to, the mile, but that is from twenty-
four to thirty-two times as steep as the lower course of
the Amazon. Two thousand miles from its mouth it is
only thirty-five feet above sea level. The Amazon has
the flattest river course in the world. With local excep
tions, its largest tributaries, the Madeira and the Negro,
continue this feature up to the base of the Andes, where
one may see on the one hand lofty mountains whose
summits are shrouded in clouds and on the other hand a
vast flat plain about a thousand feet above the sea and
yet thirty-five hundred miles distant from it by river.
Strange as it may seem, the Amazon and its tributaries

240 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

for all their flatness have rocky stretches in their courses.
Five hundred miles from the Amazon's mouth are the
rocks of Obispo; the islands at the mouth of the Amazon
are in part rocky, and the Madeira has a line of thirteen
falls and rapids (Fig. 136) in a stretch over two hundred
miles long!
Around them
a railway has
been built
which ends at
Porto Velho
and to which
ocean-goingships now sail
(Fig- 133)-
These condi
tions may be
easily under
stood if we
realize that
the river does
not' have a
regular but an
irregular descent. The figures we have just learned show
what the average grade is; but long stretches of the river
are quite flat. They are in fabt great lakes connected
with each other by shorter stretches with relatively
steep descents.
The lake-like, flatter portions of the river have very
irregular and indefinite banks, arid exhibit a wilderness of
land and water. So intricate and complex are the side
channels that it is often exceedingly difficult to make out
the main ship channel which the boat is to follow. The side
channels, called igarapes (or "canoe paths") and paranas

Fig. 119. A tropical forest on the banks of a trib
utary of the Amazon. Every year the river
rises and overflows the forest for miles

AMAZONIA: LAND OF FORESTS AND RIVERS 241

by the Indians, run for long distances parallel to the
river and intersect the tributaries so that one may go by •
canoe from Santarem one thousand miles up the Amazon.. .
without once entering or even sighting the main stream
(Fig. 120).
When the rains are heaviest, and the water rises spread
ing far and wide over the country, the river becomes still
more irregular in its course. The flood spreads through
the forest near by, and turns large portions of the country
into vast lakes (Fig. 119). When the floods subside the
river's course becomes more definite. In many places a
new course is formed, the old one having been partly
filled with sand and mud. Altogether the river is most
irregular in its behavior and very uncertain for navigation.
The main stream of the Amazon is about four thousand
miles long, or six hundred miles longer tljan the distance
from Liverpool to New York. It has fourteen large
tributaries, each a great river in itself. It offers a means
for inland navigation for more than twenty thousand
miles. The source of the river is only sixty miles from
Lima, near the Pacific coast and close to the silver mines

Fig. 120. The Amazon and the Tapajos

16

242 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

of Cerro de Pasco in the little lake of Lauricocha, just
below the limit of perpetual winter. Thus it is seen
practically to cross South America from west to east
at very nearly the widest part of the continent. Its
great length, and the fact that' it almost crosses the con
tinent, makes it
one of the greatest
highways in South
America. Itsmany
tributaries drain
a vast region that
produces rubber,
cacao, and tropi
cal woods which
would be of little
use to man were it
not for this great
natural pathway
(Figs.ii9andi2i). The Forests of
Mystery. The
heat and heavy
rainfall of the Am
azon valley unite
to produce one of
the few really
The density and
In many

Fig. 121. Canoe travel in the Amazon Basin.
Yuracare Indians poling
canoe upstream

great tropical forests of the world
luxuriance of the Brazilian forests pass belief.
places the plants crowd into every space and make such
a mass of vegetation that only by hewing a way through
it is it possible to travel. A landing on the banks of the
river is in many places impossible on account of the wall
of vegetation that leans in places far out over the edge
of the stream. This is the most extensive and unbroken

AMAZONIA: LAND. OF FORESTS AND RIVERS 243
tropical forest in the world. One may travel for weeks,
even months, and find scarcely an acre of ground that is
not occupied by trees. So thickly do they stand and so
completely does their foliage shut out the sun that the
interior of a tropical forest is gloomy and solemn. Every
plant seems to be crowding its neighbor for light and air
and room in which to grow. - The huge trunks of the
tallest trees bear aloft a crown of leaves that reach out over
the tops of all the other plants. But about the tall
trunks are wound the stems of plants called parasites and
epiphytes that1 get their food from the trees or live on
them and use the tree trunks to send their crown of leaves
to the top of the forest. Below, all is dark; it is toward
the top of the forest' that all the plants are struggling.
So dark and gloomy is the interior 1 that it is with a

Fig. 122. Indians and canoe on the Rio Chapare, eastern Bolivia.
The canoe is of cedar and will carry ten or twelve people.
The long poles are used in shoving the canoe upstream;
going downstream, the Indians use
broad short-Haded paddles

..

244 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
sense of relief that one comes out upon the river bank
or the trail and again looks at sun and sky. It is on the
side of a trail or on the bank of the stream that one sees
the real beauty of the tropical forest. Here one may
find masses of bushes, shrubs, and trees of every height,
rising one above the other. The brilliant coloring of the
flowers stands out sharply against the background of
solid green and gives a charm that is lacking in the dark
interior. Yet it is a mistake to suppose that the tropical forest
offers charms lovelier than those found in the forests of
the temperate zone in which we live. Trees of a given
kind do not stand thickly together. The spaces between
the trees are so crowded with vines and underbrush
that there are no beautiful woodland aisles as in our
forests. There is no carpet of leaves and grass. The
sunlight is nearly shut out, and one misses the dappled
effect that beautifies the stately forests of pine, redwood,
and beech in this country. There may be beautiful
flowers in the tropical forest, but for every flaming blossom
to be found there, one as beautiful may be found in our
fields and pastures. Nor are there open glades where
the sunlight comes in and gives light to grass and woodland
flowers. Luxuriant, but overcrowded; dense, but im
penetrable; decorated with blossoms along the river
banks, but with a gloomy interior — these qualities of the
tropical forest make the traveler glad to return to the
cool and lovely woods of his northern home.
In this land of abundant vegetation and of many kinds
of plants one might suppose it possible at a moment's
notice to get food enough for a meal. This is by no means
the case. The forest plants must be improved or new
plants brought in from outside lands before man finds it
possible to live here. There are fish in the rivers and

.vMM

AMAZONIA: LAND OF FORESTS AND RIVERS 245
wild animals in the forest, but even the Indians require
vegetable food and almost every tribe has its cultivated
patches of yuca or manioc from which they wander for a
limited time only; and the white man finds that cultiva
tion of the soil is absolutely riecessary for a prolonged
stay in the forest.^ An Indian turned loose in a strange
part of the forest, and, without tools of any sort or bows
and arrows, would have a hard time finding food enough
to eat, and indeed he might actually starve in the midst
of the most abundant vegetation. The reason for this is
that so few plants in the tropical forest are adapted to
the needs of man. The corn and the yuca, the rice and
the oranges, do not grow wild or, if they do, they are not
the kinds that are good for food. An opening must be
cleared in the forest, the brush and the trees must be
burned, useless plants kept out, and man must fight to
keep useful plants that serve his needs (Figs. 122 and 123.)
Wild Indian Tribes of the Amazon Basin. Within the
wide borders of the Amazon Basin there are a great
many different tribes of Indians with varying customs
and ways of getting a living. All of them are very sim
ple, all eat plain food, and all have rude huts and a
barbarous speech. All live in tribes held together by
the loosest bonds — food supply and protection against
unfriendly neighbors. The rivers supply a portion of
their food. The land supplies a few game animals, such
as the monkey, the sloth, and the wild pig or peccary,
and a few vegetables which require but little cultivation.
They are all ignorant and without ambition to lift
themselves above their dreary surroundings. Left to
themselves they would for centuries to come, if not for
ever, remain in the same low state in which they were
found by the earliest explorers. They have no written
language and their spoken language consists of a few

246 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

hundred words only, the names of common objects, such
as the animals they hunt, the food they eat, and the plains
and the streams about them. Some are wholly without
religion, others believe in good and bad spirits, and a good
many have myths about the creation of the world and
the manner in which their particular tribe came into it.

Fig. 123. The Juntas valley, eastern slopes of the Bolivian
A ndes. The mountain slopes produce coca and fruit

AMAZONIA: LAND OF FORESTS AND RIVERS 247
The Wretched Mura Indians at Matari. It will be
interesting to look at a few of the wild tribes and see in
what manner they live, where their food supply comes
from, and how they differ from their neighbors. First
of all we shall describe the life of a wild Indian tribe of
the lower Amazon, the Mura Indians at Matari. A
village consists of about twenty flimsy mud hovels on
the edge Of a luxuriant forest. There are no cultivated
trees or plants about, and the whole appearance of the
place is forlorn and poverty-stricken. The people are
timid and distrustful and their appearance is not improved
by the black mud with which their bodies are begrimed
as a protection against mosquitoes. The children go about
naked. The women wear petticoats of coarse cloth blotched
with a dye, called murixi, that is made from the bark of
a tree. Sometimes necklaces of monkey's teeth are worn.
, Originally these dirty savages lived along the lower
Madeira and were part- of the great Caraio nation . that
consisted* of a group of agricultural tribes of far nobler
character and ways of life. But for centuries they have
lived in low-lying forest areas often covered with water.
The miserable land and the wretched ' surroundings
have degraded them. Once they lived in well-njade
houses, had gardens, and a knowledge- of weaving and
pottery; now they are among the lowest tribes of the
world. They have become a nation of nomadic fisher
men, ignorant of agriculture and all the other industries
known to the people from which they came.
They live in separate families or small groups, and
wander from place to place along the banks of rivers and
the shores of lakes in' search of food. At each resting
place they 'build rude huts at the edge of the' stream on
which they live for a short time. Their canoes were once
made of the bark of a tree bound into shape by vines, but

248 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
these are now rarely seen. Their food is chiefly fish and
turtles, which they shoot skillfully with bows and arrows.
Fish is to these people what the seal is to the people of
Greenland. Their only method of cooking is by roasting,
and as a general rule their only vegetable foods are bananas
and wild fruits. The filth, poverty, and deep savagery
of the Muras afford a remarkable example of the effect of
the swampy lands in which they maintain a miserable
existence. The Yuracare Indians of Eastern Bolivia. Along the
banks of the Rio Chapare in eastern Bolivia may be
found the savage Yuracare Indians who build their huts
chiefly on the banks of the rivers, creeks, and bayous
that thread the low-lying lands in which they dwell.
(Figs. 121 and .124). Sometimes a hut or group of huts
is built some distance away from the river at the end of
a narrow trail, so well concealed that it can be seen only
by trained eyes. These huts are made of strong wooden
posts supporting a thatched roof and generally have only
one wall. Laid out under the roof and upon the beams
are bows and arrows, paddles, and a few skins. In
these huts the Indians sleep, and cook either in iron
kettles obtained from traders or by roasting over a fire.
Usually there are a few cultivated garden patches about,
containing corn and yuca, the latter being a root or tuber
somewhat like the yam, but with a mealy structure and
almost without taste.
The food of the garden is only a part of their living,
however. They hunt in the forests with bow, arrow, and
knife. They are very fond of the monkey, and the wild
pig or peccary. They also catch fish, of which there are
many fine varieties in the streams. These they shoot
with great skill, for from childhood the men have been
taught the use of the bow and arrow.

AMAZONIA: LAND OF FORESTS AND RIVERS 249

A traveler once engaged several Indians and Indian
boys to run his canoe, and once a day they stopped in
some quiet, shallow stretch of the river to fish. Often
they shot five or six
in quick succession,
but some of the fish
were so large that
they swam off with
the arrow, dived
and rose again, and
darted this way
and that, only to
die at last and float
on the surface.
When enough fish
had been caught the
canoe was drawn
up on the bank, a
fire started, and the
fish roasted. After
the meal was fin
ished the Indians

FlG. 124. A Bolivian Indian shooting fish
with bow and arrow from his canoe
in the Rio Chapare

took the oily pieces that were left and greased their faces,
legs, and arms to prevent the mosquitoes from biting
them. The Indian canoes are made of logs of cedar which are
hollowed out with fire, stone, and steel. These are often
of great size. Fig. 122 shows one thirty feet long and
three feet wide that will hold a dozen men. The canoes
are paddled by long-handled and short-bladed paddles
operated with a short, jerky stroke. Going upstream
against the current they use paddles only in the quieter
water. Where the current is swift they tow the canoe
with strands of tough bark cut from one of the forest

250 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

trees. Whenever in traveling along the river they
become hungry, they run the canoe into the bank, start

Fig. 125. The kind of house used by the valley and plains people
of eastern Bolivia. It is almost all roof tot protect the people
from the rains that fall almost every day
a fire, and roast some fish and yuca. The sand bars
along the rivers contain many remains of such camp
fires and rude shelters of bark and leaves occupied at
night. These are also used by traders and other travelers,
who find the sand bars dry and usually with enough
sun-dried wood for a camp fire.
The Yuracares obtain cotton cloth from passing
traders,' but their clothing is still riiade largely from the
inner bark of trees which, by drying and pounding, is
made into a kind of coarse-textured garment that looks
like a long shirt. They are exposed to the attacks of the
countless mosquitoes that swarm out of the river swamps
at sunset, and their bare arms and legs are often cruelly
bitten and swollen. They decorate their faces with a
red ochre, daubing the paint over it in long streaks and
dots. Their life seems hard and cheerless, but we must

AMAZONIA: LAND OF FORESTS AND RIVERS 251
remember that they have never known any other life
than this and therefore regard their home in the same
contented way in which we regard ours.
Indian Slaves in the Rubber Forests. Many Indian
tribes of the Amazon Basin, and indeed of many other
places in South America, are held by the whites in a kind
of slavery. In Amazonia this is not called slavery but
"peonage," though it would take a great deal of study to
enable. one to see any difference between the two. It is
a cruel -and wicked system and 'ought to be abolished by
law. Whole tribes may be captured and taken long
distances in canoes to the places where they are to be
set to work in the rubber districts or on the cacao planta
tions. There they are given a set of tools with which to
work, clothes to wear, and a shed in which to sleep.. These
articles are all charged against them at ridiculously high
prices, and the Indian, who does not wish to buy the
.articles in the first place, is said to be in debt to the
man who "sold" them to him, the man who is practically
his owner or master. Now it is a law of the land that
if an Indian is in debt to a white man he must work for
him until the debt is paid. If, during the time that he is
working off the debt, he tries to run away, or does not
work when he is told to, he may be flogged by an officer
of the town to whom the owner makes complaint. In
this way an Indian is often whipped for not working to
pay for something he was obliged to take.
The slave owner always sees to it that his Indian rubber
gatherers never get out of debt. This he does by crediting
them with very little pay for their work and charging
them very, much for the poor clothing, food, and tools
that he supplies. If the owner of a slave wishes to sell
him, he does so for the arriount that the 'Indian is in
debt to him. It is altogether a shameful practice and is

252 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
feebly excused by the men who engage in it by saying
that the Indian is lazy and will not work, even if you
pay him well; that there is a great deal of work to be
done and the Indian is the only laborer to be found;
that if rubber and cacao are produced. the Indian must
produce them; and if the Indian will not produce them
for pay, he must be made to work even if he must be
treated like a slave.
The lack of labor in the Amazon Basin is one of its
chief defects. Along some of the tributaries of the Rio
Negro there are rubber forests which are of great value,
but in which there is a total absence of people. Foreign
labor cannot be introduced because it is very expensive
and few men can be persuaded to make their homes in
so unhealthful a lowland. Either the rubber and cacao
of the Amazon valley must in large part and for a long
time to come remain untouched or a system of slavery,
such as at present is found there, must be maintained.
There is a third possibility, and one for which the world
is waiting with great interest: we may soon discover

Fig. 126. Santa Rosa, Bolivia, one of the eastern towns at the head
waters of a plains stream. To Santa Rosa come boatloads
of rubber from the plains and caravans of merchandise
from the highlands

AMAZONIA: LAND OF FORESTS AND RIVERS 253
means for preventing those dreadful diseases that make
portions of the tropics so dangerous for the white man.
Malaria and yellow fever are now in part subdued, but
bubonic plague, beriberi, and a few other diseases still
remain frightful scourges of the Amazonian lowlands.
No large number of white laborers will ever be found
there unless tropical diseases are conquered and life made
safer than now. The white men who go into the region
to-day do so, in the main, as officials, rubber agents,
adventurers, or outlaws. Rubber collecting has until
recently been the most profitable occupation of the basin,
and huge profits were formerly made in a short time.
The competition of the rubber plantations of India and
the East Indies has lowered the price of rubber to less
than half its former level, and the Amazon rubber industry
is rapidly losing in importance.
Humboldt's Dream of Great Cities on the Amazon.
When the great explorer Humboldt visited the Amazon
valley early in the nineteenth century the region was
almost unknown to the civilized world and its resources
were almost untouched. Humboldt dreamed of the day
when there would be a large population in the valley,
teeming cities, and great industries. But his dream
has not been realized and will not be for many years to
come, probably never, unless man finds some way to
conquer tropical diseases, the weakening effects of great
heat, and the torment of insects that makes' life so trou
blesome. Until then we shall have the scattered tribes
¦we, now find there, tribes that cling to the river banks and
to whom the river is the only highway from place to
place, the source of part of their food, and the sole relief
from the gloom of the dense forest (Figs. 125. and 126).
The people who dwell in Amazonia are not scattered
broadcast over a vast area. They live as a rule in small

254 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
bands on the banks of the streams or, for the sake of
protection, in isolated settlements near the river (Fig. 127).

Fig. 127. Village on Javary River
Along many of the rivers one may find fewer people
than there are miles of stream. On some of the main
rivers there are small towns and villages every few miles,
and near the mouth of the Negro one comes with surprise
upon Manaos. — a large city in the center of a tropical
forest (Fig. 128).
A Modern City in the Heart of the Amazon Valley.
It was the slave raids in which the whites captured
Indians for service on the plantations and rubber districts
of the lower Amazon that gave rise to Manaos. The
Paulistas, half-breed slave raiders from Sao Paulo, con
ducted, raiding expeditions in the upper Amazon waters
and built there an outpost to protect their base of opera
tions and keep up traffic with the planters to whom they
sold the kidnaped people. Iri this way a city grew up
which was named Manaos after a now extinct Indian
tribe, once the head of a great nation of Indians.
To-day the river port of Manaos is a thriving place of
more than fifty thousand people, enjoying cable connec
tion with the outside world (Figs. 128 and 129). Rubber

AMAZONIA: LAND OF FORESTS AND RIVERS 255
in large quantities is brought from far and wide. It is
floated down all the rivers in launches, batelaos (Fig. 130),
and canoes. Here are gathered .the cacao and hides,
the dyewoods and the tropical woods that are shipped, to
the United States and to Europe. It is here, too, that the
manufactured goods come Which are distributed through
a large part of Amazonia by the traders and rubber
gatherers. With the growth in numbers of steam vessels
of light draft on the tributaries of the Amazon;.and with
the slow increase of river population, Manaos is likely to
become a much larger city than it is at present.
The Land of Rubber. The great business of the
Amazon valley, or Amazonia as it is often called, is the
. gathering, the curing, and the sale of rubber: In few
other places in the world can one find the people so
generally engaged ' in the rubber industry as here. It
will be worth while, therefore, to see under what condi
tions the rubber tree grows and how the industry is
carried on. On the river plains certain kinds of rubber
trees thrive on low islands and flood plains submerged
for several months each year. Ground that is covered
with water most of the year or ground that is. never
flooded is not suitable for these species. »At least some
of the young rubber plants seem to require shade and still

Fig, 128. General view of the port of Mandos, Rio Negro, Amazon.
Basin

2 56 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
air. Other species of rubber trees grow on higher ground
at a distance from the river where floods never reach or

Fig. 129. Manaos market, on the Rio Negro, Amazon Basin
on the lower slopes of the mountains along the western
border of the Amazon basin. The best rubber districts,
however, are found in low country along or near the
rivers (Plate XI).
The peons or slaves employed in the rubber industry
are given from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty
trees apiece, and these they must visit daily during the
gathering season. The rubber collector uses a long knife
called a machete to cut a path through the dense under
growth to each tree that he wishes to tap. At times he
is knee-deep in mud or up to his waist in water. As soon
as he reaches a rubber tree he chips away the rough parts
of the bark, so as to make a smooth place for a cup, and
then with his ax cuts a small gash. Another and another
is made, until there is a line of them girdling the tree,
Into each gash, he inserts a tin cup or with a small piece
of clay fastens the cup underneath the gash in the tree.
On the next day the gashes in the trees are made a little
lower down and the cups are also set lower. Some

AMAZONIA: LAND OF FORESTS AND RIVERS 257
collectors tap the trees in the morning and gather the sap
in the evening, while others gash the trees in the evening
and gather the sap in the morning (Fig 131.) A good
collector on the lower Amazon gathers about seven pounds
daily; in the upper Amazon several times this amount
may be collected.
The half-liquid substance that drips into the tin cups is
poured into a light gourd which holds the contents of five
hundred to seven hundred cups. After the drippings of
several days have been gathered into a clay bowl, the
rubber collector lights a fire in his hut or in the! open,
places a clay funnel over it, pours a thin coating of latex
or "milk" over a paddle, and holds it in the smoke. to
thicken and "cure." As. soon as this is done he again
covers the paddle (with the first layer of cured sap still
on it) with fresh sap and smokes or cures this in turn.
When he has in this way cured a ball of sap as large as
can readily be held and turned in the smoke, he slits the
whole mass down the side and so releases the paddle.
The fuel generally used in the curing of rubber is the

Courtesy of tlfe Pan-American Union
Fig. 130. Bolivian rubber unloaded from batelajs for shipment
. by railway _ , .
17 V'.-'-.'"

2 58 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
nut of the cerbain, a kind of palm. This is more easily
gathered and carried to the places where it is used than

v-ourtesy of the Pan-American Union
Fig. 131. Rubber gatherer's home on the upper Amazon River
any other fuel, gives out a continuous dense smoke, and
seems to give a better quality to the rubber than any
thing else that has ever been tried. The wood of certain
kinds of palm trees is also employed where the nuts are
difficult to collect.
After a season's crop of rubber has been gathered it is
sent to the great gathering centers: San Antonio, Manaos,
Para (Fig. 134,), and other river towns (Fig. 126): It is
shipped in canoes, of the sort described on page 249, or
in batelaos, or steam launches. The batelao (Fig. 132) is
a sort of barge operated with poles and paddles and able
to carry from a few hundred pounds to several tons. One
end of it is often covered with a sort of roof or awning
of grass and p'oles of bamboo, as a shelter from the hot
sun. The batelaos are strongly built to withstand the

AMAZONIA: LAND OF FORESTS AND RIVERS 259
hard usage to which they are subjected on the trip to the
rubber port. This is especially true of those employed on
the Madeira and its branches, for a long line of falls and
rapids occurs between a point above the junction of the
Beni and the Mamore" and the village of Porto Velho
(Figs. 133 and 136).
The Commerce in Rubber. In the past fifteen years
rubber has become a very precious substance — one of
the most important articles in the world's markets — and
has been made- to serve man in almost countless ways.
Rubbers, coats, bicycle tires, and especially automobile
tires are only a few of the many purposes for which man
finds the rubber best suited. Thousands upon thousands
of men are engaged in gathering it and taking it from
plantation to market. Add to this the fact that half
the world's rubber is produced in the Amazon Basin and
one may get some idea of what rubber means to the
people who live in -Amazonia. We may think of every
other rubber tire, every other rubber storm-proof coat,

Courtesy of the Pan-American Union
Fig. 132. Hauling a batelao across the falls of the Madeira,
Brazil

260 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

every other overshoe that we see, as having been made
out of rubber that came from the Amazon Basin, — rubber
gathered by Indian peons, smoked over palm nuts, pad
dled down rivers that thread the tropical forests, and then
taken over a long ocean route to the great ports of the
world. With the recent great increase in the use and
therefore in the demand arid the price of rubber, the
Amazon Basin has been scoured for trees that will pro
duce it and for men to tap the trees and collect the latex.
Many formerly unheard-of villages in the depths of the
vast Amazonian forest have become known because of
their relation to the rubber industry, and some of them
have grown to be towns of considerable size and impor
tance. Manaos and San Antonio have long been known;
but Riberalta, Iquitos (Fig. 135), Trinidad, and Acre are
places that have come into prominence only within recent
years. This is true of Iquitos especially. Only a few
years ago it kept up a feeble trade in the upper Amazon

Courtesy of the Pan-American Union
Fig. 133. Madeira-Mamore Railroad and Porto Velho, Brazil

AMAZONIA: LAND OF FORESTS AND RIVERS 261

valley by means of the paddle and the dugout canoe.
Almost nothing of value was exported. It was one of

Fig. 134. Boat landing at Para
the remote and unimportant villages in the heart of a
vast forest. Now Iquitos is an important river port.
The growth of the rubber industry has changed it com
pletely. There is a regular monthly steamship service
to Liverpool and also to New York. Almost the entire
outgoing cargo of these steamships is rubber. More
than half the people of the city depend upon rubber for
a living. With the growth of the rubber business at
Iquitos a better means of gathering it had to be found.
The dugout canoes were too slow and uncertain. Steam
launches- were tried in their place and found to Work so
well that now one may find them on almost every large
tributary of the Amazon. They are owned chiefly by
the merchants of the town, whose "clients," to whom
they loan provisions and supplies, steam away to the

262 SOUTH AMERICA: A: GEOGRAPHY READER
rubber district in which they have bought the gathering
rights, collect a load of rubber, return to Iquitos, and pay
for their provisions with rubber.
The steam launch, however, has not entirely driven
out the use of the canoe. There are still thousands of
rubber gatherers, and many thousands more of wild
Indians, to whom the canoe is the only means of going
from place to place (Fig. 121). The forest is so vast, the
spaces between the streams so wide, and the trails so few
and so short that the rivers are still the great and almost

Fig. 135. Iquitos, Peru, at head of steamer navigation on the Amazon
the only highways. And where the launch cannot be
afforded the canoe is the only means of river transport
besides the batelao. Many rubber gatherers still use it,
and almost all operate on the same system that prevails
at Iquitos, getting their supplies on credit and paying for
the supplies in crude rubber. Rubber is the currency,
so to speak, of the Amazon valley. If a physician can be
found to set a broken arm or leg, he is paid in rubber; if
a man buys a boat or some rice or a mule, he pays for it
in rubber. Amazonia is truly the land of rubber.
While the rubber industry has brought fortunes to
many and a livelihood to thousands of others it- has not
been a blessing to all the men engaged in it. To the
poor Indian peon or slave who must gather rubber against
his will.it is a curse. Likewise many a man has gone

AMAZONIA: LAND OF FORESTS AND RIVERS 263
into the great forests to buy rubber and make a fortune
in a short time, and has died in the wilderness where
fever overtook riim. ¦ It is a business full of danger to a
white man, especially to a man of bad habits. Those
who lead clean and regular lives have a fair chance of
outliving its dangers, but even some of the strongest and
the best fail to return from the forest.
The rubber industry has also been a misfortune in those
places where the people have abandoned every other
kind of regular work for the uncertain business of mak
ing money out of rubber. Settlements that were once
thriving have now fallen into decay. Gathering rubber
was easier for the enterprising man than hoeing on a
plantation. By going into the forest with a band of
Indian peons enough gum could be secured in three
months to give him an idle living the rest of the year.
Many substances formerly shipped from Amazonia ' are
no longer produced. Cacao, cotton, rice, and sugar were in
many places produced in larger quantities before the craze
for rubber began and men drifted off into the rubber dis
tricts; the wilderness again claims many a cleared place
once subdued at great labor.
If the people of a region spend all their time in produc
ing but one substance, all- the other articles they use must
be brought in from other places, and if these are far away
the cost will be correspondingly great. Think of a region
where rubber is the chief product of the people and yet
where a rubber coat manufactured in Europe or the
United States is so expensive a luxury that but few people
can afford it! It is the same with many other articles
needed here. There are no manufactures in Amazonia.
All the cloth, shoes, tools, sugar, and rice are brought in
to the rubber districts from foreign countries in the
northern hemisphere or from distant parts of Peru,

264 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
Bolivia, and Brazil. All of them are therefore very
expensive, though it must be remembered that on account
of the lack of manufacturing facilities such as coal,
labor, and railroads, they would be still more expensive
if manufactured under present conditions in Amazonia.
Salt, which is so cheap in the United States that one
may often buy a barrel of it for about a dollar, sells in
parts of Amazonia for thirty cents a pound, or thirty
dollars a barrel. It is gathered on the vast salars of cen
tral Bolivia, taken by llama caravan to Cochabamba, and
thence by mule train a week's difficult journey to Santa
Rosa at the head of canoe navigation on the Rio
Chapare. Though gathered free it sells at Santa Rosa for
fifteen cents a pound, for it is carried at great labor and
expense. Not the original cost but the cost of carrying
the goods causes the extremely high price. From Santa
Rosa it is shipped in canoes and batelaos down river to
Trinidad, Villa Bella, Riberalta, and other river towns,
where it sells for much more on account of the long and
expensive river journey.
The Madeira cataracts are formed where the river
crosses at right angles a number of low, narrow ridges of
rock, harder than the bands of rock on either side. At
one time the harder rocks gave rise to mountains but by
long-continued erosion these have been reduced to mere
ridges. All of the southern tributaries of the Amazon
that flow northward off the uplands of southern Brazil
(Plate VIII) and eastern Bolivia have similar cataracts
where they cross the edges of the upland or its outlying
spurs and ridges. The Canuma, the Tocantins, the Tapa-
jos, and the Xingu are alike in this respect. These barriers
are of unusual importance since in a forested region the
rivers are the highways and a river with cataracts is even
worse than a deeply gullied road blocked by fallen trees.

AMAZONIA: LAND OF FORESTS AND RIVERS 265

SKETCH.MAP OF THE Aroyd, Sauto i
CATARACTS of.lha RIO MADEIRA.
-mil the adjoining portions of the
BENI and MAMORE

Most of the trade of the Amazon Basin centers at
Para, a city of one hundred thousand people at the mouth
of the Amazon, eighty miles from the ocean (Figs. 134 and
137). The city occupies a position of importance since it
is in touch with all of the great valley behind it. In the
- harbor are all kinds of
craft from hundreds of
different places. Here
is an English cargo
steamer loaded with
rubber from Iquitos
and bound for Liver
pool. Yonder lies a
great steamship from
New York bringing a
load of northern lum
ber, fish, hardware,
clothing, salt, and oil
for the people of Para
and for the rubber
men along the various
rivers. Some butter
and fish come from
Norway; rice, flour,
and fish come from

Founded on the map by
Joseph & Franz Keller In
¦'Vom Amazonas und Madeira'.1

Fig. 136. Map of falls of the Madeira

the United States, and sugar, coffee, and manioc from
eastern Brazil.
Besides the big steamers that cross the ocean there are
at Para many kinds of boats from the different tributaries
of the Amazon. Here are canoes and sailboats full of
vegetables and fruit for the thousands of city dwellers;
launches and side-wheel steamers from up the Amazon
bringing rubber and cacao; and < covered batelaos from
the Para estuary and the Tocantins (Fig. 138), bringing

266 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
down the tropical woods and fruits of the lower part of that
valley. The people who run the boats are of many kinds,

Courtesy of the Pan-American Union
Fig. 137. Municipal Theater, Para, near the mouth of the Amazon
from swarthy Indians and black negroes to sickly looking
whites. It is as if the whole world had been drawn upon
to make a medley of voices in many languages and a
mixture of racial types.
Within the city of Para are many curious and interesting
articles of food scattered upon the floors or displayed in
the shop windows. Bananas are piled everywhere and
are very cheap. There is also the nutritious manioc sold
as flour, — the food of large numbers of people.: We are
acquainted with it in another form, for it is from this
substance that we get our tapioca. Quantities of black
tobacco may be seen rolled up in long twists as big
around as one's arm. A common food is the turtle.
Many of those caught for the market are several feet
across and a foot high. They have their breeding places

AMAZONIA: LAND OF FORESTS AND RIVERS 267
along the banks of the rivers and the shore (Fig. 139).
The eggs are about as large as ordinary hens' eggs and have
thick, leathery skins instead of shells. Each turtle lays
more than a hundred, and many thousands are often found
in a single breeding place. The people not only relish the
turtle itself but also prize the eggs. They search the
shore for them, dig them out of the sand bars in which
they are buried, and make turtle oil or turtle butter out
of them.
After Para we shall leave the Amazon, Basin, In spite
of the heat, the disease, and the dirty natives with which
the traveler has constantly to deal, Amazoriia has many
attractions. It is a land of mystery in spite of all the
boats and the men in various parts of it. One after
another the early explorers were tempted into this great
wilderness to explore its forests and to penetrate its
mysteries. Fable olaced somewhere in its gloomy
depths the mystic city of El Dorado, the city of gold,
surrounded by fairy lakes and filled with gilded palaces.
As men traveled along its great water courses the fabled
city of gold flitted from one corner of the wilderness

Fig. 138. Village of Tocanlins, Amazon Basin

268 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
to another and at last disappeared, though the history
of the search for it will long be of absorbing interest.

Fig. 139. Loading turtles, Amazon Basin

One by one the secrets of the region have been dis
covered. Humboldt explored parts of it early in the
nineteenth century, Herndon and Gibbon of the United
States navy traversed it by different routes in 1 851-1852,
and Louis Agassiz studied the natural history of the
lower Amazon in 1 865-1 866. Crevaux, the Stanley of
South America, penetrated some of its remotest regions.
Wallace, the great naturalist,- unlocked the secrets of the
Rio Negro. Keller wrote of the Indian tribes of'.rthe
Madeira basin and of the difficult cataracts. Colonel
Church (American) and Sir Clements Markham (English
man) crossed the basin and gave us graphic accounts of
the great rivers, the plants, and the wild Indian tribes.
In later years launches and steamers have multiplied
on all the large tributaries as well as on the main river,

AMAZONIA: LAND OF FORESTS AND RIVERS 269
and the number of people who have visited the Amazon
is now large. It no longer is a hazardous undertaking
merely to cross the basin along the best routes, though
to live and to work in it for years still involves risk of sick
ness or at least of poor health brought on by insect pests,
bad food and water, and almost constant high tempera
ture and humidity.
The latest expeditions to the Amazon country have
shown how little we yet know of some of the corners of
this vast wilderness. The anthropologist, Farrabee, has
just explored the northeastern section — the hinterland of
Guiana. Colonel Rondon of Brazil has traveled through
new regions in the northern parts of Matto Grosso and
Goyaz; and during 19 12 Colonel Roosevelt, in company
with Rondon, entered the Amazon Basin from the head
waters of the Paraguay by a new route. He discovered
the course of a river, about eight hundred miles long — the
so-called "River of Doubt," since named by the Brazilian
government "Rio Theodoro" in his honor. The fasci
nating story of his adveritures is illustrated by striking
photographs of forest scenes, Indian hunters, game, and
strange, isolated settlements in a hitherto unknown part
of South America.

CHAPTER XIV
ECUADOR: LAND OF VOLCANOES
The Great Volcanoes. As its name indicates, Ecuador
is the land of the equator; it also has the distinction of
containing more volcanoes for its size than ariy other
country on the continent. The land is very irregular
owing to the large amount of volcanic material poured out
upon the surface everywhere and to the manner in which
the volcanoes themselves are placed. Upon the central
plateau there is an "avenue of volcanoes" in which are
still active craters that at intervals emit mud and lava
and destroy hundreds of people who dwell in the valleys
at their feet.
There have been also destructive earthquakes, as in
1868, when whole towns and villages were destroyed and
fifty thousand people lost their lives. If these mountains
are ' beautiful they are also dangerous, and one cannot
admire them without remembering the terrible effects of
their wrath.
Cotopaxi is one of this great group of volcanoes and
in 1880 was climbed for the first time by Whymper, who
has written a stirring account of its active crater.
"Cavernous recesses belched forth smoke, the sides of
the cracks and chasms no more than halfway down shone
with ruddy light, and so it continued right down to the
bottom . . . [where] was a ruddy circular spot about
one-tenth of the diameter of the crater, the pipe of the
volcano, its channel of communication with lower regions,
filled with incandescent if not molten lava, glowing
and burning, with flames traveling to and fro over its
surface, and scintillations scattering as from a wood fire,
270

ECUADOR: LAND OF VOLCANOES 271
lighted by tongues of flame which issued from the cracks
in the surrounding slopes."
Among these giant volcanoes mere is none other that
(lifts its head so high as lofty Chimborazo (Fig. 140). It
reaches more than twenty thousand feet above the sea and
on clear days may be seen from Guayaquil, a city on the
hot, steaming low lands of the western coast. To travel
from Guayaquil to the top of Chimborazo is to pass through
as many different climates as one would experience in
going from Guayaquil to the north pole, for the crater of
Chimborazo is ice-capped in spite of the eternal fires that
smoulder in the heart of the volcano. Within the past
few hundred years Chimborazo has broken out many times.
The Unknown Borders. Ecuador is not only one of
the smallest republics of South America; it is also the
only country whose size varies so much from year to year,
according to the claims of its neighbors, Colombia and
Peru, that in the end it may be twice as large or only
half as large as its people think it is (Plate II)'. As a

Courtesy of the PanrAmerican Union
Fig. 140. Snow-capped mountain, Chimborazo, Ecuador, within
sight of a hot lowland ¦ ¦ *¦

272 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
matter of fact its exact size is of small consequence, for
the land it holds in dispute with these neighbors is located
east of the mountains and within the hot, forest-clad basin
of the Amazon, and has little present value. Some rubber
is gathered on the eastern lowlands, but the amount is
not large enough to cause Ecuador to take a very firm
stand against her neighbors in holding the land. Like

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
Fig. 141. Old Spanish church, La Compania, Quito, Ecuador

ECUADOR: LAND OF VOLCANOES 273
some other South American countries; Ecuador once in
a while amuses the world by publishing a map of the
country with boundaries that take in as generous slices of
neighboring states as the humor of the map maker may
lead him to include. If one compare an official map of
Ecuador with a map of Ecuador published in Peru or
Colombia, an astonishing difference will be seen.
The White People of Ecuador. Although Ecuador is
a separate republic and has a government of its own it is
almost amusing to learn how small a number of white
people actually live in it and do its business. There are
only as many white people in Ecuador as live in Louis
ville, Kentucky, that is, about two hundred and thirty
thousand. Among even this number there are some
who have a small amount of negro or Indian blood.
Including Indians, negroes, and half-breeds there are in
all Ecuador to-day perhaps a million and a half, about
twice as many as live in the city of St. Louis (Plate XII).
The Indians of Ecuador. The Indians of Ecuador
belong to two distinct groups. Upon the western plateau
and in the higher valleys are the salt-eating and semi-
Christian Indians who -live chiefly by agriculture, are
peaceful and industrious, and have a settled mode of
life. Then there are the really wild tribes that eat no
salt, have no religion or a very simple one, live in a
savage way, recognize no man's authority, and are
treacherous and warlike. These live upon the plains
of the eastern part of the country, the forested western
edge of the great Amazon Basin. As the forest-dwelling
Indians form so large a part of the total population of
Ecuador .it will be worth our while to look at their cus
toms in some detail. Their wild life makes them in
some respects the most interesting of all the native people
of Ecuador. 18

274 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
The flat, forested country of the Napo valley contains
many Indian tribes. This river, one of the tributaries
of the upper Amazon in Ecuador, flows through a flat
country and winds back and forth in large and regular
curves. Upon the outside of the river bends the banks
are being, cut away, while the inside of each bend is
marked by a flat sand bar containing driftwood, a splendid
camp site for Indian hunters, white traders, and travelers
alike. For miles the country is a network of water courses,
and each side of the river is bordered by a countless
number of lakes opening into the main stream by sluggish
channels. The Napo country is in some places particularly wild
and desolate and full of animals. The tall cane bordering
the banks of the river is the hiding place of pumas, jaguars,
and wild, hogs that come down to the river at night to
drink. On the lower Napo turtles and turtle eggs are the
main articles of food, as monkeys are in the upper Napo.
The Wild Tribes of the Napo Valley. The Zaparo
tribe of the Napo. valley is one of the wild tribes, whose
customs, clothing, and means of securing food are of
special interest. These Indians lead a semi-nomadic
life, sometimes collecting at their settlements and again
following the trails of the wild animals that move now
in this direction, now in that, according to the manner in
which the food ripens. When they reach a place where
the hunting is good they build beautiful sheds, open on
all sides, with several palm-fiber hammocks slung crosswise
within. These serve them only a few months at the long
est, for the game soon becomes scarce as the hunters scour
the forest roundabout, and abandoning the old camp site
they move to a new one.
The Zaparo Indians have no industry whatever except
the making of the hammocks in which they sleep and the

ECUADOR: LAND OF VOLCANOES 275
weaving of the fishing nets so necessary for their food
supply. The only covering, worn by men and women
alike, is a long bark shirt, made in a single piece, and
called a llanchama. To make it, a moderate-sized tree
of the right kind is cut down and the bark pounded with
clubs until it is broken off and the interior fibrous bark
loosened from the wood. This inner bark is thin and
forms a good natural cloth. It is removed from the trunk
of the tree without being cut so that it is in a single piece
and need be. only partially closed at one end, and have
two armholes cut into it. Before the garment is worn
it- is dried in the sun and ornamented by circles and
other designs in red, without which it would not be
thought complete.
The Deadly Blow-gun. Some of the Indians of the
Napo valley make the"~blow-gun, an instrument used by
only a few tribes in the world and dreaded by all their
enemies. It is as formidable to the white rrian with his
modern high-power rifle as to the ignorant savage, for
it is both deadly and silent. Not a sound may be heard
to indicate whence come the deadly arrows so skillfully
blown by some Indian hidden in dense brush or bamboo.
The gun, about eight feet long, is made of straight bamboo.
A joint of bamboo serves as a quiver; the arrow is a
slender stick almost a foot long, with a very sharp point
dipped in poison that soon paralyzes its victim. The
end of the arrow next the mouth is wrapped with. light,
delicate wild' cotton. In shooting the blow-gun the
mouthpiece is held in both hands. It is blown with
astonishing ' skill and has great penetration at short
distances. An American Sewing Machine in an Indian Hut. It is
a strange" and curious sight to see an almost nude Indian
woman using a sewing machine in making calico dresses

276 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
for her children; yet it is a sight frequently seen in the
lower parts of the Napo valley. Traders have brought
in many of the white man's goods, but none that seems
more strangely out of place than a sewing machine in the
hut of a forest Indian. These machines are used even by
those Indians who eat with their fingers and who squat
upon the earthen floors of their dirty huts. The women
take the greatest pride in one, usually those of a whole
village purchasing a machine in common. The old Napo
costume of woven grass or bark is in some places fast
going out of fashion, ordinary dresses of cotton and linen
being worn in their place.
The Bleak Paramos of the Highland. What a contrast
to the life of the plains of eastern Ecuador is the life
on the mountains and plateaus of western Ecuador ! Here
are the lofty paramos, or high, bleak, and almost deserted
plateaus which extend northward into Colombia. The
heavy mists, the clouds, and the rains of the paramos are
so penetrating that they cause great discomfort, and it
sometimes happens that both whites and Indians when
overtaken by bad weather become numbed and perish.
Every one attempts to get across a paramo as quickly
as possible. There is not even a shrub, much less a
human habitation, to afford food or protection. Every
where one feels a sense of great loneliness. With the
exception of the half-wild cattle one might travel for
weeks without seeing any large animal. The paramo
stag, the mountain lion, the bear, the fox, and the woolly-
haired tapir live there in the scantiest numbers. A few
lazy vultures and smaller birds add to the desolation.
"There is a note of sadness running through the whole
of nature on the paramo, a note so strong that even the
wild inhabitants seem to have caught it. It is a desolate
and melancholy land." (Keane.)

ECUADOR: LAND OF VOLCANOES

277

The Wet Lowlands of the Coast. Upon the western
edge of Ecuador one finds again the rank vegetation that
is the mark of tropical heat and seasonal wetness (Plate
XI). It is this aspect of the country that greets the
traveler who enters the Gulf of Guayaquil and sails up
the broad Guayas River. The banks of the stream are
crowded with trees and shrubs, and everywhere are signs of

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.

Fig. 142. Gliding up into the heart of the country; natives poling
boat up Babahoyo River, Ecuador

278 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
regular rains. These rains come during the southern
summer, that is, during December, January, and February.
After the first rains the appearance of the country is most
refreshing. Animal life is abundant, the flat savannas
bordering the stream are covered with a bright green
carpet of grass and shrubs, and the bushes have a rich
covering of leaves and flowers. ¦ During the dry season —
July and August — the plants lose their leaves in large
part, and rest until the summer rains come again.
The plains bordering the largest and the only navigable
Stream of Ecuador are well cultivated and pleasing to
the eye. "Plantation after plantation, hacienda after
hacienda, extend along the main stream; every house is
surrounded by the magnificent fruit trees, bananas, and
palms. Now we wander for hours through the dark
green cacao forests, now through low coffee bushes, again
over bright green fields of rice and sugar cane, or along
the steep slopes of darker tobacco fields; suddenly we
find ourselves for a short stretch in dense forest, where the
monkeys are chattering; then we come upon thousands
of cattle and horses pasturing on the open savannas.
These savannas, with their great isolated trees or clumps
of bamboo grasses, twenty feet high, present a wonderful
sight." (Wolf.)
The Panama Hat. It is from the moist lowlands of
western Ecuador that the chief exports of the country
are derived. This is the land of palms and fruits, of
grazing cattle, and plantations of cacao, sugar, and rice.
It is a land where there is very little manufacturing.
Almost all that the country produces for export is derived
from the soil. The only manufactured article is the
Panama hat, and because it is so famous we shall wish to
see how it is woven. It may be interesting to know in
passing that the name " Panama hat" is rather misleading,

ECUADOR: LAND OF VOLCANOES 279
for it is not made in Panama at all but in Ecuador,
Colombia, and northern Peru. Some years ago, and al
most the same is still true, these hats were shipped chiefly
by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and it was there that
for a long time they were bought and sold. But to-day
it is chiefly at Guayaquil as well as at Payta, in northern
Peru, that they are brought for sale. In Ecuador Panamai
hats are called Jipijapa after the town and province in
that country where it is said they were first made.
The plant that supplies the straw out of which Panama
hats are made is called planta de Toquilla. It grows wild
in the low, damp forests and is cultivated on some of the
plantations. The "straw" is obtained from the young
white leaves that are just beginning to open. The leaves
have parallel veins and it is along these that they are
split into shreds resembling straw. They are then boiled
and dried in the sun. For shipment from place to place
the straw is packed in bales weighing from sixty-five to
ninety pounds each, which sell for thirty-five or forty
cents a pound.
Many of the hats made in Ecuador are of course very
plain and are worn by the poorer natives. Those shipped
out of the country, for sale in the United States, Europe,
and southern South America are as a rule better made.
The highest grades are of fine fiber and are braided with
extreme care. Some of them bring the maker from one
hundred to one hundred and twenty-five dollars apiece.
This seems like a high price, but, we must remember that
the straw is fine and the weaver must work so slowly
that from five to six months may be required to weave a
single hat. Sometimes cigar cases or watch fobs are made
on commission for a particular price agreed on before the
work is begun. One such article smaller than one's hand
is known to have cost five hundred dollars, and to have

280 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
required several years' time to weave. Its texture
resembled that of fine cloth. In some provinces the
making of hats is an important industry in which a large
number of people are engaged; in Guayas five hundred to
a thousand dozen are manufactured every month. Nearly
a million and a quarter dollars' worth are sent to the
United States every year.
Cacao in Ecuador. More than twenty countries of the
world are engaged in the production of cacao. Of these
countries the most important are Brazil, the island of Sao
Thome, and Ecuador (Figs. 5 and 151). In 1904 Ecua
dor produced five thousand tons more than its nearest
competitor, Brazil, but more recently Brazil occupies first
place. Whole plantations are devoted to the growth
of cacao so widely used as a drink by the people of tem
perate lands. Plantations are bought and sold at the rate,
of fifty to seventy-five cents per tree. Each tree produces ">
about one pound, a pound selling for fifteen or twenty
cents in Ecuador. Cacao is unlike tea and coffee in that
it can be grown in only a very narrow zone between six
hundred fifty and twenty-six hundred feet above the sea,
and between twenty- degrees north and twenty degrees ,
south of the equator.
Ivory from a Plant instead of an Elephant. If one
were to visit a button factory in the United States he
would find there a lot of curiously shaped nuts as hard
as bone and with a brown surface, but without a shell.
Break open one of the nuts and there is found within only
an intensely hard white interior, out of which buttons
may be made. The nut is called "vegetable ivory" and
it is obtained from a limited number of countries, among
them tropical Ecuador, where the gathering and sale of
it takes the time of many men. It is one of the important
industries of the country.

ECUADOR: LAND OF VOLCANOES

281

Without vegetable ivory, buttons would be either much
more expensive or inferior in quality, for they would have
to be made of steel, of the bone and horns of cattle slaugh
tered for the meat market, as indeed some buttons are now
made; or they would have to be made of wood, and would
not wear well; or of ivory, which would be very expensive,
for it is obtained from the tusks of elephants that live

*

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t
\i:'f \
sj&>-*
£& 1 •'
^BtjufflBflt- 1
4
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wmm*
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BIN? \ a
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Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
Fig. 143. Up-country hospitality among the natives; dinner in
preparation, Riobamba, on the plateau of Ecuador
282 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
in tropical Africa. There are many other substances
reside these out of which buttons are made, though almost

Copyright, hy TTnrlerwnod & Underwood, N. Y,
Fig. 144. A country housewife grinding oats for bread in a home
on Ambato-Riobamba road

N.Y.
ome

all of them are open to one objection or another. But
here in the land of the equator there grows a plant yielding
a nut out of which excellent buttons may be made cheaply.
About three million five hundred thousand pounds of
vegetable ivory are sent out of Ecuador every year at a
cost of more than one hundred thousand dollars. In Ecua
dor the vegetable ivory nuts are also shipped in some num
bers to Quito, the capital city, where they are skillfully

ECUADOR: LAND OF VOLCANOES

283

carved into little figures that are then painted in bright
colors and sold to the people of the country roundabout.
The Plateau of Ecuador. Between the flat, hot, moist
plains of eastern Ecuador and the forested western fringe
in which most of Ecuador's plantations are found, is the
mountainous part of the country. Here, too, we find the
high plateaus and valleys in which a great part of the na
tives and almost all the whites live (Figs. 143 and 144).
No white man stays on the coast except to transact
business, to wait for the next boat, or to see the country.
A few live on the lowlands all the time, but rather from

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, IT. Y.
Fig. 145. Quito, Ecuador, the city of the equator, 9,350 feet above
the sea, among the Andean volcanoes

284 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
necessity than from choice, because all of the lowlands and
the lowland cities are extremely hot and unhealthful, and
infested by flies and mosquitoes. On the other hand,
the climate of the plateau is cool and healthful the year
round; there are farms on which corn and cattle are
produced, whose owners enjoy a degree of comfort and
health quite in contrast to the discomfort endured by the
fever-ridden and insect-tormented people of the plains.
It is here that we realize the many kinds of climate that
even such a small tropical country as Ecuador offers to
its people. Upon either side are hot plains; between
these are high plateaus and valleys with every kind of
climate and vegetation; higher still are lofty paramos,
cold; bleak, wet, and almost lifeless; and crowning the
whole are superb volcanoes, whose lofty peaks rise into a
land of eternal winter (Fig. 140 and Plates VIII and XL) "

Courtesy of the Pan-American Union
Fig. 146. Street in Quito; Ecuador

ECU ADORf" LAND OF VOLCANOES 285
The Cities of the Cool Plateau. Upon the cool and
pleasant plateau are the chief cities of Ecuador. Here
is Quito (Figs. 145 and 146), the capital and largest city;
here also are the large towns, Latacunga, Riobamba, and
Ambato, each with about ten thousand people, and Cuenca
in the upper Paute basin with twenty-five thousarid.
Quito is said to have between thirty and eighty thousand
people, these wide extremes showing how carelessly the
people are numbered, for no one can say just how large
any one of these towns actually is. Quito stands more
than nine thousand feet above the sea, under the shadow
of the volcano Pichincha, and is laid out in the form of a
square. Its churches (Fig 141), convents, and cathedral
have a fine appearance, but are in painful contrast to the
mean, squalid native houses built almost in their shadow.
Here are Panama hats from the valleys on the eastern
slopes of the mouritains, oil paintings sold in the country
districts near by, the skins of birds from the Napo valley,
grain, cattle, and hides from the plateau, and a little
silver and gold from the river sands. '
In the quaint old city of Quito orie .may now see the
most striking contrasts of old and new. The, native
Indians still follow" the old ways of life:- build their
mud-walled houses on the old designs, use. the llama to
some extent, till their farms with the most simple wooden
plows (Fig. 150), and live in almost every way like the
Indians of four hundred years ago.
Until a few years ago Quito, although it is the capital
and largest city of the entire country, was connected with
the outside world only by stagecoach and mule caravan.
All of its imports had to be brought in over trails and
coach roads in such bad condition that they were closed
for several months of the year in times of exceptionally
heavy rains. Now there is a railway to Guayaquil, the

286 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER-
chief seaport (Figs. 147, 148, and 149), and the traveler may
reach the plateau town by steamer and rail in about

Courtesy of the Pan-American Union

Fig. 147. Street in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Guayaquil is one of
the most unhealthful cities in the world
twelve days from New York. The railway was built at
heavy expense and at great risk. In some cases the
mountain sides had to be faced with retaining walls of
brick and stone, steel bridges were built across the moun
tain torrents that course through the bottoms of steep-
sided ravines, and switchbacks were built that make the
ascent of steep slopes possible. The ties are of California
redwood. All timber except that used for temporary pur
poses had to be brought from California and Oregon.
Sooner or later the fine water power that the mountain
torrents would supply will be put to use and the trains
operated by electric power. The lower part of the rail
way had to be built by negroes brought in from tropical
Jamaica because the natives from the plateau sicken and

ECUADOR: LAND OF VOLCANOES

287

die in the unhealthful lowlands and could not be induced
to work on the line until it reached an elevatiori of six
thousand feet. The railway means a great deal not only
to the people of the interior plateau but also to the valley

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
Fig. 148. Volunteer firemen ready to run with the engine, Cathedral
Square, Guayaquil, Ecuador

288 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
people on the eastern slopes of the Andes, where man
has long been shut away, far from the sea and the great

Courtesy of the Pan-American Union
Fig. 149. Guayaquil, Ecuador. Part of Malecbn, showing the

Guayaquil, Ecuador. Part of Malec'bn, showing the
river front
currents of the world's trade. The locomotives on the
line now use wood obtained from near the coast and
coal imported from Australia and England.
The Only Seaport of Ecuador. The seaport of Ecuador,
to which all the goods for the interior of the country must
be brought, is Guayaquil on the banks of the Guayas
River. It has an evil name, not only because of the heat
and flies and swarms of ferocious mosquitoes, but also
because of the prevalence of disease of almost every kind.
It is perhaps the most unhealthful city in the world. It
lacks a decent sewer system, its streets are filthy, its air
stagnant, and the heat of the sun intense. A large firm
doing a great business on the west coast of South America
tried for years to maintain a branch house at Guayaquil,
but agent after agent died of some one of the. diseases
which have made the city notorious until, at last, the firm
gave up in despair. Yellow fever is almost always pres
ent, varied once in a while by outbreaks of typhoid,

ECUADOR: LAND OF VOLCANOES

289

bubonic plague, smallpox, and malaria. From time to
time the government has tried to do something, but after
a feeble effort or two allowed the old condition of things
to return. At last they have organized a commission
and have put at the head of it Colonel Gorgas, who has
made a great reputation in both Cuba and Panama for
cleaning up tropical cities and 'stamping out disease.
If the commission is allowedto carry out its plans Guaya
quil may become a clean port like Rio de Janeiro and
Havana (Plate II).
. In spite of the bad climate and evil name of Guayaquil
a great deal of business is done there, for it is the main
seaport of the country. Although the river is shallow
and full of changing sand bars, ocean steamers come well
up the river, where they are met by barges, steam launches,

Courtesy of W. D. Boyce
Fig. 150. Plowing with a crooked stick— a custom still found in
both Ecuador and Peru
19

290 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY KiSAJJJiK

dugout canoes, and rafts that move between vessel and
port with the tides. Here, too, are gathered all the

Courtesy of tlio Pan-American Union
Fig. 151. Loading cacao at Guayaquil, Ecuador. A typical
¦harbor scene

ECUADOR: LAND OF VOLCANOES 291
products of Ecuador, and one may learn much of the
country by seeing what the great ocean steamers leave
or take from it. Here are the cacao, the hides, and
the cattle of the plains through which the Guayas River
runs and in whose current the boats are swinging; there
are the ivory nuts, the Panama hats, the sugar cane, and
the rice grown on the plantations (Fig. 152) that line the
river for miles. The houses of Guayaquil are made in
large part of bamboo and plaster, for the sake of coolness
and on account of the earthquakes for which the town is
too well known. Large buildings would endanger the
lives of the people, but these light structures rarely fall.
Even when they do fall the danger to life is slight.
A City on a River. Another interesting town in Ecuador
is Bodegas, many of whose houses are built far out over
the water on piles driven into the mud of the river bottom.
The reasons for this curious condition are the heavy rains
that occur here and the fact that during the rainy season
the. lowlands near the river are flooded so high that the
people would be driven out if they built their houses on
the -ground. When the rains, come and the water rises
the people may go into the second stories of their
houses and live there until the floods subside. The street
crossings are bridged by logs and the people sometimes
step from one block to another in going from store to
store, or even use a canoe as in the city of Venice,
where canals take the place of streets and every one
travels by boat.
Some of the smaller. houses of Bodegas consist- of one,
room only and are made of poles covered with palm leaves.
To enter, one must go up a ladder instead of a flight of
steps; the ladder can be drawn up and let down as .the
water rises and falls, and is not swept away as steps would
be. The floors are of bamboo canes with cracks between

292 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
the separate canes — cracks so wide that one may look
through to the water beneath. This is very handy for
the women, because the dirt falls through the cracks to
the river and it is not necessary to sweep the rooms.
The people of Bodegas, like those in other lowland
towns, use charcoal for fuel, burning it in braziers, a
little at a time as they require it for cooking. The rains
make the poor wood even poorer, and to have a good fire
good fuel must be used. Charcoal burning, as the

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
Fig. 152. Harvesting sugar cane on a great plantation, a typical
scene in river valleys of Peru and Ecuador

~,nil&tk

ECUADOR: LAND OF' VOLCANOES 293
process of making charcoal is called, is a regular industry
all the way along the west coast from Mexico past Central
America and Panama to Ecuador. Farther south there
are few rains and the people use the dry, resinous, quick-
burning, and heat-giving desert shrubs for fuel. Charcoal
sometimes sells for as much as a dollar a hundredweight
and is at least one article that the native must buy and
hence for which he must work at some paid task. The
people of Bodegas live chiefly upon bananas, sweet
potatoes, and yuca, as well as upon the sugar cane, which
they eat raw. They also eat rice and dried beef obtained
from the plantations and the ranches of the Guayas
valley.

CHAPTER XV
LOWLAND AND HIGHLAND PEOPLES OF
COLOMBIA
The Caribbean and its Strange Shores. Colombia is
nearer our shores than any other South American country
except Venezuela, and yet to most people it is as little
known as Tierra del Fuego or Spitzbergen. From New
York one may reach the coast of Colombia in a week.
Starting in midwinter, the cold intense and the port of
New York enshrouded with snow and ice, one reaches the
Gulf Stream in three days and enters a region of summer
where balmy winds whisper of strange southern lands.
A few hundred miles farther is the warm Caribbean,
where one sees for the first time some of the enchantments
of the tropics. The sun sinks into a golden west barred
by magically colored clouds, strange stars shine from an
unfamiliar sky, and the brilliant moonlight gives a
romantic touch to a wonderful sea. It is as if one were
living again the stories of the Arabian Nights — as if the
world were unreal. The intense and indescribable blue of
the Caribbean is the wonder of all people who travel
through it. By night the sea at times glows with phos
phorescence; in the daytime it is brilliantly lighted by an
almost vertical sun. Strange plants float upon its waters,
strange fish flash through it, strange faces look from the
shores of its many islands.
A week's journey through the purple and gold of the
tropics, and we are in Colombia. In but a few days we
have been taken from the land of the north to the land
of the south, from snow and ice to heat and luxuriant
vegetation. The welcome shore is bordered by waving
palms; tropical fruits hang from hundreds of trees;
294

PEOPLES OF COLOMBIA

295

barefooted men and women do the tasks of the port.
The southland is before us with all its mystery and its
beauty, its color and abundant life, its new peoples and
its tropical products (Figs. 153 and 154).
A Large Country and a Small Map. The republic of
Colombia is so small on most maps (Plate II) that its
really great size is often not appreciated until the traveler
actually reaches it and begins a journey across it. Then it
, is with no little astonishment that he learns its vast area.
Colombia is twelve times the size of the state of New York
and more than twice the size of the great state of Texas.
Its length exceeds the distance from Chicago to the Gulf
of Mexico; its width is equal to the distance from St. Louis
to New York. Its coast line is longer than our Atlantic
coast from New York to Charleston, South Carolina.

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y,
Fig. 153. Group of native washerwomen on the Magdalena River,
near Barranquilla, Colombia

296 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
Physical Features and Life. If mountains are high
enough they are a barrier to people; if rivers are not

Fig. 154.

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
A sewing class in a school in Barranquilla, Colombia

navigable^ people cannot use them in settling new places
and in taking their products to market; if a country lies
in the tropics where the heat at sea level is great it is
important to know if there is high land where the climate
is cool and white people can live with some comfort.
We shall therefore look at the physical features of
Colombia and see in what respects these favor man and
in what respects Colombia presents obstacles to man's
use of the land.
The Plains of Colombia. Colombia, like so many of
the South American countries, shares in the vast territory
of both the Amazon and the Orinoco basins. Almost one
half of it lies within the region drained by these great
rivers and their tributaries. What we have learned about

PEOPLES OF COLOMBIA 297
the forests and wild Indian tribes, the plains and products
of the Amazon valley, is as true of southeastern Colombia
as of Brazil, where most of the Amazon country is
found. The. flat "river plains of eastern Colombia are
the least-known parts of the country to-day. North
ward arid westward they are separated from the seacoast
by mountains; on the east it is a month's journey to the
mouth of the Amazon and the Atlantic and almost as
long to the mouth of the Orinoco. For many thousands
of years the mountain streams have been carrying the
detritus of the high land down to the low land and ac
cumulating it there. As a result the plains are very smooth
— true river plains built up by. the age-long work of the
hundreds of streams that drain the eastern slopes of the
lofty Andes of Colombia (Plate VIII).
Few industries of any importance are found on these
river plains. The region is too far from the great routes
of trade. It would cost more than chey would be worth
to market the hides and the mules that the grassy plains
might produce. Until steamers or launches ply upon
the eastern streams but little will be produced upon the
bordering pastures.
To show how difficult life is upon the grasslands of
eastern Colombia take the single item of salt, which most
people would not think of as affecting a country's develop
ment. President Reyes, after visiting the region years ago,
told his people that a cheap supply of salt is necessary to
the eastern plains before they can be exploited properly.
Others speak of the eager quest for salt and say that the
want of it is severely felt in many places. We sometimes
hear it said that a lazy man is not worth his salt — a say
ing that may be literally true in a country where salt is
so valuable.
In the coast regions salt is made by the evaporation

298 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
of sea water that has become very salty through con-
eentration in the lagoons where evaporation is rapid
owing to the high temperature. In the interior of the
country are deposits that would yield great quantities
of salt if they were properly worked. One of the most
noted of the interior salt mines is that at Cipaquira,
about thirty miles north of Bogota, where thousands of
tons are produced annually and the deposits seem inex
haustible. But the supply of salt in the country as a
whole is still very limited and a great deal of that used
by the people of Colombia comes from abroad. Both
the imported salt and that mined in the country is sub
jected to a heavy tax, one of the sources of government
revenue. Of great advantage to Colombia in the opening of her
eastern plains is the boundary treaty with Brazil which
was signed in 1907. It gives to each country the right
to navigate the rivers running partly through one country
and partly through the other. Most of the rivers of
southeastern Colombia cross over into Brazil and after
long journeys reach the Amazon. To ship the cattle
and hides that the future herds of this region will produce,
to export the rubber, and to send to other countries the
tropical woods in which the eastern valleys abound, will
require the free use of the waterways, since these are the
only means of transportation that exist. Both nations
also have agreed to improve the rivers on their com
mon boundary.
In contrast to the vast flat spaces of southeastern
Colombia are the mountains and deep valleys of the west.
The Andes of Colombia consist of three nearly parallel
chains running in a north-south direction, the eastern,
central, and western Cordilleras. Toward the south the
mountains consist largely of volcanic rock which has been

PEOPLES OF COLOMBIA 299
poured out upon the surface in great amounts, in some
places blocking the courses of rivers and turning them in
new directions. The summits of a "few of the volcanoes
are so lofty that their tops are covered with perpetual
snow. In northern Colombia near the shores of the
Caribbean and standing so near the sea that its white
summits are visible from the shore is the mountain knot
called the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Though it
lies riear the great Andean system it is separated from it
by the deep Cesar valley.
In the extrerne northwestern part of Colombia is still
another group of mountains, the Cordillera de Choc6.
These are the lowest of all the mountains, of Colombia
and stretch northwestward through Central America,
here and there crowned by volcanoes some of which still
throw out steam and lava and at long intervals overwhelm
cities and plantations, killing many people, and laying
waste the land.
From the loftier mountains of Colombia may be seen
some of the grandest scenery which the country affords.
The Cerro Munchique, in the western Cordillera, com
mands a view over more than fifteen thousand square
miles of country. From it. the Pacific coast appears to
be spread out like a map. All the curves of the shore and
the thousands of bays and islands may be clearly traced.
Toward the east a gorgeous panorama is spread before
the eye. Crowning the mountain ranges are snow-capped
peaks and below them are the purple and brown mountain
sides. Bands of bright-colored vegetation mark out the
valleys threaded by winding rivers and interrupted here
and there by foaming cascades.
The Cold Paramos of the Mountains. It is difficult
to say which is more to be dreaded, the heat of the tropical
plains east of the mountains or the cold of those higher

300 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
portions of the Colombian plateau called paramos. The
latter are usually overhung with an intensely cold and
raw mist and swept by a wind that chills the traveler to
the bone. They are uninhabited save for a few scattered
cattle raisers, and the occasional traveler 'hurries over
them as quickly as he can. Many an unfortunate animal
perishes here, and now and then a native caught out upon
these bleak highlands has lost his life from exposure to the
cold. It is between the cold paramos and the hot llanos
that one finds the pleasant forested valleys of Colombia,
with all varieties of climate and some of the most delight
ful views that the country affords (Plate XI).
Between the three main ranges of the Andes are the
chief rivers of Colombia. The eastern and the central
Andes are separated by the long valley of the Magdalena;
the valley of the Cauca, the chief tributary of the Magda
lena, lies between the central and the western Andes. On
the eastern face of the eastern Andes are steep mountain
torrents that swell the rivers of the plains, just as on the
western slopes of the western Andes there are many short
mountain streams that run down steep slopes to the
Pacific. Only four important streams remain, and these are at
the four corners of Colombia, and for this reason will be
very easy to remember. In the southeastern part of the
republic is the Guaviare, draining the greater portion of
the plains country; the Patia on the southwest cuts across
the coast ranges or the western Cordillera, and offers a
pathway from the Pacific coast to the interior valleys;
between the mountains that are found in the extreme
northwestern part and the northern end of the western
Cordillera is the famous Atrato valley, draining toward
the Caribbean Sea and making another section of Colombia
available to man; while in the northeastern- corner is the

PEOPLES OF COLOMBIA 301
Cesar valley and river, a valley rich in pasture and sup
porting great herds of cattle. If we remember the two
central valleys of the Cauca and Magdalena and the four
streams and valleys at the four corners of the country we
shall be able easily to understand a great deal of the geog
raphy of Colombia, for the people of Colombia depend so
much upon the valleys for food and trade that only a
small number live outside them.
The Magdalena River. How many of us know that the
Magdalena (Fig. 155) is one of the great rivers of the
world, and the fourth river in size in South America?
Laid out upon a map of the United States the Magdalena
would reach from Philadelphia to Chicago, from New York
to Florida, from San Francisco to Denver. This great
river is more than a thousand miles long and drains an
area larger than England, Scotland, and Wales, or about
one hundred thousand square miles. What this means
to the people who live in its basin can "be realized only by
remembering that Colombia has few railways and her
rivers mean much more to her than the rivers of the
United States do to us. The Magdalena drains a large
part of Colombia, is navigable for hundreds of miles, and

"'¦¦¦¦ . Hp^T^^^^VW^^fc, .¦ ' ^^^

 fc fSSISm^^a^ & ^

w~*«.-

¦¦

j^jg

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Fig. 155. Scene on the lower Magdalena. Here the river is so
stagnant that plants grow in the water as in a pond

302 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
is joined by over five hundred tributaries from the
mountains that flank its valley.

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Fig. 156. Barranquilla Harbor, Colombia, where the river journey
begins. A railroad ten miles long connects Barranquilla .
with the ocean port, Puerto, Colombia
The upper part of the Magdalena is a steep mountain
torrent and of little service to man. One hundred and
seventy miles from its source it is joined by the Neiva,
and here navigation in the upper Magdalena begins and
continues for more than a hundred miles to the rapids of
Honda. These break navigation for twenty miles and
were once the cause of much expense because all goods
destined for the plateau and the capital, Bogota, had
to be carried around them on muleback (Fig. 157). Now
a short railway provides for the easier passage of goods
and passengers from the steamer above the rapids to the.
steamer below them. Below the rapids of Honda there
are more than three hundred miles of navigable water
right down to the sea; and for the last two hundred miles
the Magdalena is a broad and beautiful sheet of water
(Fig. 175). Side channels branch from the main stream
to join it again farther down after circling about tracts of

PEOPLES OF COLOMBIA

303

lowland. Along both banks are tropical swamps, some
of which are flooded when the rivers are high.
The traffic of the lower Magdalena is carried on
chiefly by means of stern- and side-wheel steamers (Fig.
158). During the dry season when the river is low and all
steamer traffic is stopped or delayed people go down the
river in champans, a kind of large canoe covered over at
one end, and worked by a crew of fifteen to eighteen men.
In addition there are rafts of bamboo which go downstream
only. When they reach the port for which they are bound
the logs of the rafts as well as the goods floated down upon
them are sold, and the owners start back' overland or
return by boat for a new cargo. The river steamers carry
all kinds of goods, since almost all the supplies for the cities
and people of the plateau must come up the great river.

Fig. 157.

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Importing goods for Bogota by pack train

304 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
Imported coal is so expensive that the Magdalena
steamers burn wood, and not only in this respect but

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Fig. 158. A Magdalena River steamer. The old-fashioned stern-
wheeler is still in use here, and wood is burned for fuel
also in most others they remind one of the boats- on
the Mississippi sixty years ago before railways were built
throughout the Mississippi lowlands. Two or three times
a day the steamers run up to the bank and take on fuel.
The wood is stacked in piles two or -three feet across and
five feet high. Clearings begun at the edge of the river
gradually grow in size as the trees are removed. A few
wood cutters live at each landing and inhabit a wretched
hut or two (Fig. 159).
To add to the delay of the traveler the steamers find
the currents and the shoals so difficult to navigate that
they tie up to the bank at nightfall and wait until day
light to continue the voyage. When the water of the
river is at moderate height steamers can be navigated
night and day as far as La Gloria, two hundred and
eighty-two miles above Barranquilla (Fig. 160). The
river journey is also varied at times by the grounding of

PEOPLES OF COLOMBIA

3°5

the steamer upon some shallow sand bar, from which it
is freed only by much patient labor on the part of pilot
and captain.
Indians and Negroes of the Hot Lowlands. The
swampy lowlands of the lower valley of the Magdalena
have almost no people on account of the widespread floods,
the unhealthful climate, the great heat, and the abundant
vegetation. This vast area is without towns except at a
few small river stations such as Mompos, Tenerife, and
Tacaloa at the junction of the Cauca and the Magdalena.
In these sweltering plains and stifling valleys the white
man does not find life attractive. Jf he goes there it is
to stay for a short time only and for purposes of busi
ness or adventure or exploration. The white man and
the Indian live on the uplands; on the hot and unhealth
ful lowlands pure-blooded negroes are almost the only
inhabitants. The few Indians that live on the lowlands

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Fig. 159. One of the wood stations on the Magdalena River, Colom
bia, where wood cutters supply the river steamers with fuel
20

306 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

are still in a state of rudest savagery. The naked tribes
of the Opon territory, almost within sight from the
Magdalena steamers, still roam about in the dense forests,
killing birds and other animals with bow and arrow.
Upon the plains of the western slope of the country
fronting the Pacific the people live much the same sort
of life as in the Magdalena lowlands. Scarcely a sign of
civilization greets the traveler in making a journey up the
San Juan River from Buenaventura to Novita. The
dugout canoes and the naked negroes in them, the palm-
thatched huts built on stakes on the banks of the rivers,
the blow-guns, the bows and arrows for fishing purposes,
the grass ropes and bark sleeping-mats are all as simple
and primitive as one could find in the depths of a Malayan
jungle. Indians and Whites of the Highlands. Here as else
where in the northern part of South America the most
highly developed peoples are found not on the hot
lowlands but on the cool highlands. The Indians of

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham

Fig. 160. La Gloria on the Magdalena River

PEOPLES OF COLOMBIA

307

the plateau of Colombia, in contrast to their savage
brothers, lead a very advanced type of life. They have

Fig. 161.

Courtesy of W. D. Boyce
Native village, Colombia

paved roads which cross gorges by means of light sus
pension bridges. Long before the discovery of America
they erected stone shrines to their gods, were skillful
weavers, dyers, and potters, and even had a form of money
used in trade. The cool climate of the plateau and high
mountain valleys made these people more energetic, so
that they had better homes and applied intelligence to
their work (Fig. 161).
The white people of Colombia live well above the
unhealthful lowlands, on the plateau where the climate
is invigorating. In spite of the fact that it is only a few
hundred miles from the equator the winds are cool and
the -temperature mild. It is a land of eternal spring.
The population is densest here: one hundred and twenty
per sqUare mile in the most thickly populated parts. The
people live either on the high plains and basins or in the
narrower valleys of the cool zone. It is also worth while
to note that the people of Colombia Hve chiefly within the
central valleys.. Very few people live in the cool valleys

$kk:

308 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
that drain toward the flat plains of the east or that run
down to the Pacific, because it is extremely difficult to
carry their products over the rough mountain trails.
Though the climate of these places is mild and the -soil
fertile man finds his crops too far away from the trade
routes. Goods from the outside world cost too much and
the cattle and corn of the farms are too remote from
market to benefit their owners. The forests on the outer
slopes contain only a sprinkling of population (Plate X).
The Cattle Ranches of the Cesar Valley. Between the
Rio Ariguani and the Magdalena the country is low and
swampy, the water collecting in countless pools and
hollows. Most of -the low hills are occupied by cattle
corrals. In spite of the abundant and extremely annoying
insect life the swamps are favorite pasture grounds during
a part of the year; indeed, between the Nevadas de Santa
Marta and the Andes are some of the best pasture lands
in the country. All the rivers of this region' flow through
beautiful savannas which support thousands of cattle.
During the three summer months when the pastures of
Valle de Upar on the higher land of the southern edge of
the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta are parched and dried
up by the sun, the owners of the ranches set fire to the
useless grass so that the new growth in the following wet
season may not be so mixed with the dry grass as not to
be readily found by the cattle. During this dry period
the cattle are driven down to the fresh pastures among
the islands of the Cesar River, where each owner has
his house and grounds. The main business of the entire
region is cattle breeding. The cattle are shipped chiefly
to Cuba for the laborers of the tobacco, sugar, and
cotton plantations.
The Towns of Colombia. Many of the towns and
settlements of the plateau date from the days before the

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Fig. 162. Looking eastward from the center of Bogota

310 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
: coming of the Spaniards, while others were founded as
; centers of Spanish authority and government, or as
missions from which the missionaries of the Catholic
Church attempted to Christianize the Indians. The
country towns are Very numerous, and form centers of
trade where the farmers of the region gather for the regular
weekly market. A few towns have their location deter
mined not by the climate but by mineral deposits; others
have their location determined by trade, as Zipaquira
by a trade in salt and La Mesa (halfway between Mag
dalena and Bogota) by the exchange of goods between
the high and the low lands. But no other city in the
republic is nearly so large as Bogota, the capital, with its
fifty thousand people (Fig. 162 and Plate II).
At or near the mouth of. the Magdalena is a group of
small towns through which goods- are shipped for the
denser populations of the plateau. These are the ports
of Colombia, but they give little indication of the number
of people who dwell in the interior. Barranquilla, the

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Fig. 163. The walls of Cartagena, built in the old Spanish days
at a cost of many millions of dollars

PEOPLES OF COLOMBIA 311
most important town (Fig. 156), is on the main branch of
the Magdalena delta and is connected with the exposed
seaport of Savanilla by a railway twenty miles long. Sand
banks and shifting channels at the mouth of the river make
it impossible for boats to sail up the Magdalena from the
sea. It is as if New Orleans were shut off from the sea,
as indeed it once was, and had to ship its goods to Mobile
or Galveston, if these ports were near by. Between 1876
and 1884 a cattle trade with Cuba was carried on through
the Boca de Cenizas, the main mouth of the river, without
serious accident to the steamers, but this route is now
abandoned in favor of the railway to the seaport.
West of Savanilla is the old and romantic port of
Cartagena. In the days when Spain owned this coast
Cartagena was a great center of trade, from which all
foreign boats and traders were kept out, and where an
immense fortress (Fig. 163) was built at a cost of many
millions of dollars. The only other seaport on the
Caribbean coast of Colombia is Santa Marta, at the foot of
the mountain knot from which it takes its name, a place
now grown famous as the center of a large banana trade.
Bogota, the Garden of Colombia. Bogota is the gar
den spot of Colombia, a favored region in which live a
happy and prosperous people. The city is located in
a basin about seventy miles long and thirty miles wide,
surrounded by a high, treeless mountain wall, the source
of numerous streams which, with a number of fresh
water lakes, supply water to the fields and add beauty to
the landscape. Near the western edge of the basin plain
all the streams unite to form the River Funza, or Bogota,
one of the principal tributaries of the upper Magdalena.
Just before reaching the edge of the plain the river falls
over a perpendicular cliff into a deep gorge four hundred
and ten feet below, the Falls of Tequendama.

312 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
The principal rainy season begins about September 20,
and lasts until December 20. During this time it rains
almost every day. The mornings are generally clear, the
rains beginning about noon and lasting until sunset.
A shorter wet season occurs in April and May. The dry
seasons last from January to April and from June to
September, the sun shining from a clear and almost cloud
less sky (Plate I). At night, on account of the high eleva
tion at which the city stands, and the clear atmosphere,
the stars appear unusually brilliant and much larger than
when seen from the lower valleys or from the coast.
In this serene valley lies the city of Bogota. It is
built at the foot of two high . peaks that reach almost to
the -limit of perpetual snow. The streets of the city run
eastward up the lower slopes of the mountains, and are
crossed at right angles by those running north and south.
The squares thus formed rise one above another like the
benches of a vast amphitheater (Fig. 162). Above the
city are the terraced slopes and overshadowing peaks of
Guadeloupe and Moncerrate, upon whose topmost peaks
two massive cathedrals have been . built. From either
mountain one may look westward about ninety miles to
the frozen summits of two lofty volcanoes, Tolima and
San Ruiz, northward to the fertile valleys and table-lands
of Santander and Boyaca, northwestward to the rich
mining districts of Antioquia, while southward one may
see ridge after lofty ridge whose slopes descend to the
hot grasslands of southeastern Colombia.
Revolutions. Our newspapers say that the revolutions
of- Colombia show how unsettled is the political state of
the country, but we ought to know that many of them
scarcely produce a ripple upon the surface of Colombian
life. A few people think they have a grievance against
the government. They talk about it a few days and get

PEOPLES OF COLOMBIA 313
others to sympathize with them ; some guns are purchased
and a little trouble started, but the sight of a detach
ment of government troops is often enough to end what
we are accustomed to call "a comic-opera war." Some
of the so-called revolutions of South America are less
serious than those of our labor strikes in which men are
killed and government troops called out to keep order.

* CHAPTER XVI
THE MOUNTAINS AND LLANOS OF VENEZUELA
The Hunting Ground of South America. Venezuela
has been called the hunting ground of South America,
not, as one might suppose, because of the many kinds of
game that abound in its grasslands and tropical forests,
but because of its government. Securing a part of the
public money is to many of the officials what hunting wild
game is to the sportsmen. The chief difference seems
to be that the grafting official always succeeds while the
sportsman may not. Everything else about Venezuela
is of less importance to its people than the fact that the
country has had until very recently one of the worst
governments in South America. This is especially inter
esting to us here because it seems only yesterday that the
United States was obliged to think very seriously of
taking a hand in straightening out the political difficulties
of the country.
The president of Venezuela for many years was an evil-
minded person who ran the affairs of his country not as
an honest man but as a criminal. He got control of the
public money, robbed the merchants of other countries
who tried to do business in Venezuela, imprisoned people
who were unfriendly to his bad designs, and ruled less
like a patriot than a thief. Under such a man the affairs
of Venezuela fell into a bad way and business was com
pletely demoralized. No one cared to sell goods to the
people of the country for fear that either the buyer would
be in prison and unable to pay for the goods or that the
import tax would be so high the goods could not be
3H

\.ms£m£m.

MOUNTAINS AND LLANOS OF VENEZUELA 315
marketed. People who wished to go to Venezuela and to
develop mines or plantations did not do so because their
property might be seized or be so highly taxed that they
might as well be robbed outright.
Blessed with the riches of a tropical plateau, where food
can be produced in abundance, and where almost every
kind of plant may be grown, Venezuela so far has been
a most unhappy land. Think of a country where in the
past seventy-five years there have been fifty-one revolu
tions — on the average, a revolution every sixteen months!
We are proud to think that in our revolution of 1776 we
spent some of the best blood in the country to become
an independent nation. Such a revolution is heroic. It is
planned from patriotic motives by men working not for
their own personal good but for the good of all the people.
Far from this ideal are the revolutions of Venezuela.
Civil war in Venezuela offers a chance to rob, not a chance
to fight for a good cause ; it is a time of pillage and burn
ing, not a time for risking one's life for one's country; it
is a chance for evil men to be evil without being punished;
a -chance for good men to be put into prison simply because
they oppose those things that will harm the people. It
is not the rising of all the people against a bad government
but the rising of one group of bad men against another
...group of bad men with the common people but little
interested in the result ; for if they lose one set of robbers
who run the government it is only to gain another set as
bad or worse. It is this unhappy condition of affairs that
has kept Venezuela from becoming the powerful and rich
nation that it deserves to be. Its riches are manifold, and
it is near the great buying nations of North America and
Europe ; all that it needs is a good government. With that
assured, Venezuela will be completely changed.
Such a change in the condition of Venezuela we have a

316 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
right to expect at the present time. The despotic ruler
has been driven out of the country. A new president
has been elected. The people have become weary of
being robbed and plundered by mean officials; of seeing
their president grow rich when the money which he takes
should be spent in making roads over which cattle could
be driven to market and in building railways over which
men might ship their fruits, cotton, and rice, and. bring
in the goods of other countries. The people of other
countries hope that under her new president Venezuela
will be free and her people happy.
Scenery and Towns on the North Coast. Let us turn
from these unhappy conditions to the brighter side of the
picture, for Venezuela has indeed some very charming
aspects. Its rivers, its mountains, its valleys, its ports
are full of interest. It is also near our doors and we are
naturally interested in our neighbors. It is only a seven
days' sail from New York to Venezuela. In a week one
may pass from our temperate land to tropical Veneztiela.
The chief port of Venezuela and the one through which
almost all visitors enter the country is La Guaira. Sailors
call it the worst port in the world. It is merely an open
roadstead, and even in calm weather there is a heavy
surf on the steep shore; and when the wind blows, as it
does almost every afternoon, the waves are so high that it.
becomes dangerous and sometimes impossible to load or
to unload boats. They must then wait for the waves to
subside. A pier and a few other works have been made
to afford a shelter.
The town built about the port has a single street. This
is because steep mountains run directly down to the shore
and there is but little flat land on whicri houses may be
built. Part of the town clings to the slope of the moun
tains and one wonders that, in this land of earthquakes,

r-NiVOKOiMlA I.
J,'. Sao U'-HiO
i.'. Branca

Plate X. Density of population

<-}

TROPIC] OF CAPRICORN

I Pampas
\ | Luxuriant tropical forest
. Light tropical forest

dot desert
i Cold desert, (i) punas and
| paramos of Andes (2) Patagon
ian plains, (3) high basins
Hard-leaved evergreen forest
and scrub
~ 1 Temperate forest and woodland
p  1 Mountain forest, with both trop-
| ical and subtropical affinities
^ Subtropical forests
IIITj Araucarian forests of Brazil, the
:'li.t Argentine, and Chile
Open scrub and bunch grass
Caatinga: cacti, thorn and
stunted trees
A ntarctic flora just below
snow line

SCALE. 700 Mi|es = 1 inch
U ' tOO 2ui) 3U0 400 5IJ0 6U0 7UU SpQ 90Q 1.00U

Plate XI. ^4 vegetation map of South America

CYipyiiL'htj 1915. by Rand McNally i Co.

Plate XII. Races of man

MOUNTAINS AND LLANOS OF VENEZUELA 317

the houses are not shaken off into the sea. It is a small
port,' very hot, damp, and uncomfortable, and one feels

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Fig". 164. View of Caracas, Venezuela
more as if one yvere taking a steam bath than walking
about in the air. Travelers are glad to get away from
the sweltering port to the cool hills and riiountains back
of the town.
The railway across the coast ranges back of La Guaira
unites Caracas, the capital (Fig. 164), with the seacoast
and with the trade routes of the world. It is astonish
ing to find that the distance between the seaport and the
capital is but a few miles in a straight line and yet that
it takes several hours to make the journey by train.
The reason for this is that the railway must cross the range
of mountains that lies between the port and Caracas. The
train first climbs over a pass, from which it descends

318 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

to the capital four thousand feet above the sea; and it
requires so roundabout a course that instead of eight
miles the train must travel twenty-three miles.
The scenery along the railway is superb and at the
pass it becomes extraordinary: on one side is the ocean
and the port; on
the other is the val
ley leading down to
the city of Caracas
surrounded by ex
tensive plantations'
of sugar cane. The
curves of the rail
way are extremely
sharp and the line
crosses splendid
mountain gorges,-
beautiful valleys,
and sharp moun
tain spurs.
From the foot
of the coast ranges
that lie between
Caracas and La
Guaira the land
stretches away for
hundreds of miles
toward the interior
of Venezuela as a
succession of valleys and low ranges which at last give
way to the great interior plains. Caracas itself lies in a
beautiful mountain valley, surrounded by gardens and
farms that supply food to the people (Fig. 164).
The city has many attractive features and the natives

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Fig. 165. The University and the Academy
of History, Caracas, Venezuela

MOUNTAINS AND LLANOS OF VENEZUELA 319
are never tired of singing its praises. The plazas are
objects of great care and beauty. The houses are low,
one-story buildings, painted white, with stone and adobe
walls and red-tiled roofs. On account of the uniformly
low houses the town has a flat appearance, which is broken
but rarely by the towers of the churches or the large
roof of some high public building (Figs. 165 and 166).
In the cafes one finds bright Germans, French, and Eng-
glish who are in Caracas on business or pleasure. They
furnish small, gay groups that add an enlivening foreign
air to the town. '
The Outline of the Country. The northern part of
Venezuela is rugged and mountainous, and mountains
border it on the southeast as well. But in the interior of
the country between the mountain systems are the broad
plains of central Venezuela, the grasslands, or llanos as
they are called. Between the two extremes of lofty
mountain and low, flat plain are all kinds of scenery and

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham

FlG. 166. Caracas, Venezuela. Avenida del Sur, the principal
shopping street, looking toward the cathedral

320 SOUTH AMERICA: A ukOuRaPHy REaDEk
every variety of climate. The Sierra Nevada de Merida (in
the northwestern part of the country) alone among the

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Fig. 167. On the road to Barinas, western Venezuela. On the
right are the eastern slopes of the Andes; on the left, the
piedmont plains that stretch away from the foot
of the mountains
mountains of Venezuela has three or four peaks that rise
into the realm of winter. Elsewhere the mountain
summits generally have a covering of vegetation.
Descending from the snowy peaks one passes first
through the region of mild temperature and beautiful
climate, then the hot lowlands of the interior. At the
mouth of the Orinoco one may even sail through plains so
low that the land for many miles stands only a few inches
above water. Since each climatic belt has its own char
acteristic plants and animals, Venezuela is far from being
a monotonous country.
The Three Kinds of Plains in Venezuela. To under
stand the plains of central Venezuela one must know that
they are not all alike. Three quite different kinds of
plains may be seen in going from the mouth of the Orinoco
to its headwaters in the mountains of eastern Colombia.
They are all alike in being generally flat, but each was
formed in a different way. The plains at the mouth of

MOUNTAINS AND LLANOS OF VENEZUELA 321
the Orinoco are almost as flat as the sea, those of the
interior are either gently rolling or hilly, with streams that
run in courses cut well below the general level of the
country, while near the foot of the mountains are swampy
plains crossed by sluggish rivers. We shall do well to
call these plains by particular names which may be used
in describing them.
The first kind may be called delta plains, and these we
shall find only at the mouth of the Orinoco; the second
may be called dissected river plains, and these make up
most of the interior parts of the llanos country ; the third
occur along the edges of all the mountains, and especially
along the western edge of the plains where the mountains
are highest, and are called piedmont alluvial plains (Fig.
1*67) because they lie at the foot of the mountains and are
made of the detritus of the mountains that has been
carried down through gorges by the mountain streams.
We shall now try to get as clear an idea as possible of these
three kinds of plains, for some of them support one of

Fig. 168. Sketch map of the delta of the Orinoco

21

322 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
the great sources of wealth, the herds of cattle and mules
that graze upon their wide pastures.
The Delta Plains of the Orinoco. The size and nature
of the delta plains at the mouth of the Orinoco may be
realized from the map (Fig. 168). This shows the large
number of river channels that cross them. Instead of
having one channel to the sea, the Orinoco has many
channels since it is a delta-building stream. The river
splits up into a dozen different branches and these again
into others until there is formed, as the map shows, a
bewildering network of criss-crossing and interlacing
channels. The whole of this tract is a great swamp with
only a few people but with the most luxuriant vegetation.
For thousands of years the Orinoco has been bringing
down mud, silt, and sand and depositing them at its
mouth. Gradually the land has been built up until it
stands above sea level, but so little above that sometimes
it is hard to tell where the sea begins and the newly made
land ends. As the swamp dwellers at the mouth of the
Mississippi say : ' ' The best way to tell land from water is
to set up a stick: if it falls over call the surface water,
and if it stands up call it land." Here upon this half-
drowned edge of the continent Columbus first thought
that he had found a continent, for he argued that such
an enormous body of fresh water could be collected only
from a river having a long course, and that the land must
be not an island but a continent.
Upon the marshes of the lower Orinoco it might seem
as if no one could live, the land is so wet and the climate
so hot and unhealthful. Few indeed are the people who
dwell there, but a number of Indians do make it their
home and find among the swamps and lagoons of the
delta both food and shelter. These Indians belong chiefly
to the tribes known as the Warraus that were described

MOUNTAINS AND LLANOS OF VENEZUELA 323
by Raleigh and many later travelers. A few thousand
of them still survive, but they are fast decreasing in
numbers on account of their many wars, occasional
epidemics of disease, the influence of alcohol sold to them
by unprincipled traders, and the work they are sometimes
compelled to do on the up-river plantations. Once these
Indians dwelt farther inland, but they were driven down
into the delta by the strong and fierce Caribs, or Caraios,
who in their long war canoes raided their neighbors in
both the Amazon and the Orinoco basins and conquered
many of them.
The delta of the Orinoco has many surprises in store
for the traveler who paddles up its muddy waters. Not
the least of these is the way in which new land is being
slowly made by the work of a tree called the mangrove.
It fringes all the shores of the delta, lines the channel
banks, and grows on the border of every lagoon. The
mangrove tree is peculiar in living chiefly in the water, not
chiefly in the earth as is the case with most ordinary
trees. Its long roots — which give it the appearance of
standing on stilts — are sent down through the shallow
water and only their lower ends are secured in the bottom
mud. It seems as if a slight push would topple the man
grove over, but it is really well anchored and will grow
even where there is a moderate surf. Crabs, turtles,
and fish, besides many other forms of water life, may be
found about the roots. Mud and sand brought down by
the streams lodge there also, and, accumulating year
after year, slowly build up the bottom and make dry
land. If it were not for these "marine forests" the land
would not have been extended so far.
The great geographer, Humboldt, when he visited
South America in the early part of the nineteenth century,
made a voyage up the Orinoco. It is interesting to know

324 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
that he thought the people of Venezuela represented the
three states of human society: the life of the hunter in
the woods of the Orinoco, the pastoral life of the ranchman
on the grasslands or llanos, and the agricultural life in the
high valleys and at the foot of the mountains on the coast.
In large part this observation is true of many other coun
tries of South America besides Venezuela, but it will help
us to remember the nature of the people of Venezuela
none the less to know that it describes their threefold
division very accurately. So, having had a glimpse of the
savages who dwell among the channels and islands of the
Orinoco delta and find food and shelter in its vast swamps,
let us look next at the kind of life that depends upon the
grassy river plains along the Orinoco and its tributaries.
Scenery of the Grasslands. Upon the vast plains or'
llanos of the Orinoco valley the eye finds many resem
blances to the sea. In a wide view the almost level
plains stretch out mile after mile toward the horizon;
the slight irregularities everywhere visible are like the
waves, the clumps of trees that dot the plains seem like
islands, and the distant range of mountains like the
shore. Let us not forget, however, that the plains are
not smooth everywhere. The flattest and lowest portions
lie along the valley floors of the large rivers like the
Orinoco. But in places the tributaries have cut their
valleys below the higher plains away from the rivers and
have furrowed them so deeply that when one tries to cross
the country one finds it in sorrie places decidedly hilly.
So that there the dissected plains do not appear like a
waveless sea but rather like a choppy sea. This undu
lating surface is also broken by jutting masses of harder
rock that make island-like interruptions (Fig. 169).
"From the higher slopes a prospect is commanded of
one of the grandest scenes, in nature. At your feet lies

MOUNTAINS AND LLANOS OF VENEZUELA 325
a lovely expanse of meadow, fresh and smooth as the
best-trimmed lawn, with troops of horses and countless

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Fig. 169. The llanos of Casanare, Colombia
herds of cattle dispersed over the plains. Here and there
the eye alights on glittering pools and lakelets left by the
last rains, and now alive with an immense variety of
aquatic birds. As far as the gaze can. reach, the undulat
ing grassy plain appears like a shoreless ocean petrified
after a storm. No language could convey a true picture
of the varied beauties of the scene — the harmonious effects
of light and shade; the blending of the various green,
blue, and purple tints flitting in the sunlight over the vast
panorama; the stately palms gracefully fanning the glow
ing atmosphere, with their majestic crowns of broad and
shining foliage." (Keane.)
The grasses of the llanos are of many varieties.1 Some
of them are soft as silk and contain food of the best kind
for cattle and horses. Others are of more interest to the
botanist than to the herder, for they are more curious than
valuable. The gamelote is of this kind. It grows tall
and sharp and cattle will not eat it, while the llaneros or
cowboys curse it, for it cuts their hands and clothing and
the legs of their riding animals.

s&. Mu

-326 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
The Great Orinoco. The course of the Orinoco is
extremely irregular and winds in and out in the habit
of rivers that flow through flat plains. It is bordered
by magnificent trees that form narrow bands of forest
along each bank of the stream. The traveler once in a
while catches a glimpse of open savanna, but for miles
at a stretch it will more often seem as if he were traveling
through a forest country rather than through a grass
country whose rivers are lined with trees.
During the rainy season (from April to November)
the river overflows its banks and floods the surrounding
lowlands. The great floods transform the plains of the
Orinoco into a vast inland sea, in places one hundred to
one hundred and twenty miles in extent from north to
south and hundreds of miles from east to west. The
floods are especially well marked at Ciudad Bolivar, where
the water sometimes rises forty or fifty feet and submerges
the country far and wide. The river covers the lower
parts of the tree trunks, makes broad lagoons along the
path of the river, and often completely changes its course
for miles. The effect of an overflow is seen also in the
large masses of tree trunks, branches, grass, and bushes
that are overwhelmed and, swept into the stream. The
branches of the trees catch on the bottom and become
lodged, other trees and branches are lodged against them,
and soon there is a natural raft which, if it grows to great
size, may be a hindrance to navigation.
It might seem as if the floods of a great river like the
Orinoco would make large tracts of country useless and
would either prevent man from coming into the zone of
floods or drive him out in case he made an attempt to live
there. Such indeed is the case in many places. Parts of
the Mississippi valley are not occupied by man because the
excess of water makes farming too difficult. Many other

MOUNTAINS AND LLANOS OF VENEZUELA 327

rivers of the world act in this manner and discourage the
people who attempt to make homes along their borders.
Much of the land along the Mississippi has been reclaimed,
however, by the building of great dikes or levees which
restrain the water in time of flood and prevent the loss
of cattle and crops.
But the people of the Orinoco valley neither run from
the river nor build dikes to any extent to keep it in its
regular course. Instead, many of them live in houses
built on piles or long poles driven into the ground. When
the river is low and the ground free of water they live on
the ground, but when the water rises they move to the
floor above. Life would not be possible in many places
without dwellings built on piles, and the people would find
it difficult and sometimes impossible to travel without the
boats and canoes in which they are accustomed to make
their way from place to place, looking after their live stock
on the higher ground away from the river and gathering a
food supply. Even some of the wealthiest people of the
lowlands have rude houses built of mud and piles.

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
FlG. 170. Junction of the two principal tributaries of the Apuri

328 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
A Seaport in the Llanos. One of the most noted cities
in Venezuela is Ciudad Bolivar, partly because it is one

Fig. 171.

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
A bongo on the A pure River

of the few ports of the country, partly because it is in
the grasslands and reflects their interesting life. It lies
about halfway between the delta of the Orinoco River
and the mouth of the Apure — the main branch of the
Orinoco. Its old name, Angostura, is a more descrip
tive name than Ciudad Bolivar. Angostura means "the
narrows," and refers to tho fact that the river banks are
here close together, and a single port serves the people
on both sides. The name was changed to Ciudad Bolivar,
or city of Bolivar, in honor of the patriot Simon Bolivar
who fought for years against Spanish rule and at last
freed his country and made it a republic. He is often
called the George Washington of South America. A
fine statue in his honor is in one of the principal plazas
of both Caracas and Ciudad Bolivar. On the left (north)
bank of the river and across the stream, here only a
half-mile wide, is the- town of Soledad, which it is planned
to connect with the capital, Caracas. A railway between
these two cities would bring into use large regions where
now there are few civilized people and would enable

MOUNTAINS AND LLANOS OF VENEZUELA 329

Venezuela to reach lands that without the railway would
be occupied only by a few scattered Caraio (Carib) and
Arawak Indian hunters.
Farther up the Orinoco is a great tributary, the ApureS,
(Figs. 170 and 171), wriich has its source in the mountains
of Colombia several hundred miles west. Here is the very
heart of the llanos of Venezuela, the grassy plains with
their herds of cattle, horses, and mules — a great ranch
country where men are accustomed to the saddle as the
people of our towns are accustomed to street cars, where
the roads are trails, the river crossing a ford (Fig. 172),
and where cattle are the currency of the land. Here is to
be found much of the wealth of Venezuela and practically
all of the wealth of the interior. What rubber is to the
Amazon Basin, tin to Bolivia, and nitrate of soda to the
people of Chile, the cattle and mules of the llanos are to
the people of Venezuela. There are other and more im
portant industries in the northern valleys near the Carib
bean — for example, cacao, coffee, sugar, and fruits of
many kinds — but the heart of the country, the great

Fig. 172. Crossing

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
River, western Venezuela

33° SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
interior, is a country of pastoral peoples, the cattlemen
and herdsmen of Venezuela.
Ranch Life on the Llanos. The life and scenes of
this great region are very like those of our grasslands
in parts of the West fifty to sixty years ago. There is
the cowboy, the corral, the camp, and the long drive
to market, for much of the region cannot be reached by
boat and there are no railways. Large steamers go up
the Orinoco only so far as Ciudad Bolivar, at the head
of tidewater, two hundred and sixty miles from the sea.
During the rainy season, when the waters are high and
the river deep, smaller steamers continue the river trip
from Ciudad Bolivar to Nutrias on the Middle Apure and
there is an irregular service of steamers from the mouth
of the Apure to Ciudad Bolivar more frequent than! that
to Nutrias. These irregular steamers are the only means
the people have of sharing the trade of the outside world.
It is a vast, lonely interior which can never have a great
development until railways make it possible to export
cattle more easily. Until then the cowboys must drive
their cattle long distances to the rivers and wait there for
the steamer that may not come for two or three weeks
(Fig. 173). Since there is a limit to the distance that
cattle may be profitably driven to market, much of the
interior country is unused except by a few Indians and
here and there a lonely settler who has made his home in
the wilderness and lives in an independent way far from
any neighbor.
The Prairie Fires of the Grasslands. One of the great
sights of the llanos are the grass fires that rage every year
during the dry season. They may be started by some
one who wishes to burn the range so that the new grass
of the wet season will grow faster and be more easily
obtained by the cattle, or they may be started by accident

MOUNTAINS AND LLANOS OF VENEZUELA 331
or by lightning. Once started, the fires spread with
astonishing rapidity and sweep miles of country before
they are stopped by rain or by a river. Sometimes they
burn through the night and light up the prairie for miles
about with. a pale yellow light as if the sky were on fire.
During the progress of a fire crowds of long-tailed scissor
birds hover round the edge of the flame and eagerly
swallow insects that rush out of the fire half stupefied by
smoke. On bushes and trees eagles and falcons eagerly

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Fig. 173. Cattle on their way to market, llanos of Venezuela
watch for some frightened animal that rushes from the
flames only to fall a prey to the hungry, waiting birds.
Cattle Driving in the Northern Llanos. Between the
Apure and the northern mountains of Venezuela are the
most used and the best known of the Venezuelan llanos.
From the town of San Fernando on the south toward
Valencia and Caracas on the north there are rolling
savannas grazed by thousands of cattle. During the dry
season the cattle are driven along the Apure (Fig. 170)
where the grass, on account of the wet condition of the
ground, grows well even during the season of little rain.
When the rains set in the cattle are driven to the high
northern savannas; those that are ready for market are
then, separated from the rest of the herd and driven to the
end of the railway, where they are shipped to the seacoast

332 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
or sent to the towns that depend upon the llanos herds for
meat. The high savannas are too dry for pasture during
the dry season (November to March), and although 'a few
herds are kept there the whole year round they do not
fatten well. The rains therefore control the migrations
of the cattle in Venezuela in the same way that the
seasons control their migrations in .mountainous regions
like the Alps or the Pyrenees.
The lower llanos, as the region between the drier upper
pastures and the Apure is called, and the upper llanos
south of Valencia are divided into great ranches by long
barbed-wire fences which are built by the cattlemen in
common just as they also drive their cattle in common in
going back and forth between the upper and the lower
pastures. The cowboy of the llanos is called a llanero. He wears
a broad felt hat and cotton suit, the trousers having a
long slit at the side. He always rides a mule, of which he
is an excellent judge, is generally armed with a revolver
and knife, is a good shot, and seems good-natured and
honest. He lives on corn cakes toasted over the coals,
beef or veal, eggs, bananas, cheese, and coffee.
Animal Life of the Llanos. The marshes and lagoons
along the water courses of the llanos fairly swarm with
birds of many kinds. There is the white heron from
which are obtained valuable egrets, used in trimming
ladies' hats. The heron is in danger of extermination on
account of the numbers that are shot for ihis purpose
every year. Our Congress has set a good example to the
rest of the world by passing a law preventing their im
portation into this country. There are also the flamingo
with its great breadth of wing, the scarlet ibis, and the
rose-colored spoonbill. In places a less valuable kind of
heron as well as many other kinds of birds are found in

MOUNTAINS AND LLANOS OF VENEZUELA 333
great "heronries" which are sometimes miles in extent
and include crane, stork, ibis, and other kinds of birds of
many colors from gray to a brilliant scarlet. There is also
a small duck, the guiriri, so called from its cry, and which
at times rises in such numbers as almost to obscur the sun.
Along the banks of the streams, especially of the middle
Orinoco, there are also to be found great numbers of
turtles. Some of them are three feet long and weigh
seventy pounds. They lay great numbers of eggs, from'
which are obtained every year about twenty thousand
gallons of oil.
One of the tributaries of the Orinoco is called the Tor-
tuga, which means turtle, a name given to it on account
of the large number of turtles that live on its banks during
the months of March and April. The long- sloping sand
banks are their favorite nesting places, and to those
places the natives go in canoes to collect eggs and to
kill the turtles for their shells, which are used as basins
and cooking pots in many Venezuelan households.
In the rivers are to be found the manatee and the giant
otter, besides fish of many kinds. Some of the fish are of
curious forms and habits. There are electric eels of great
size with a battery strong enough to give a powerful
electric shock to men who attempt to cross the streams
by wading or swimming or to horses that come down
into the shallow, muddy pools of water to drink. There
is the paillara, somewhat like the salmon, but with large
tusks working through horny nostrils and a dangerous
looking row of teeth behind the nostrils. The most
dreaded of all is the caribe, a bloodthirsty creature with
a head somewhat like that of a bulldog and with a pro
jecting lower jaw. It has sharp three-edged teeth with
which it can break the strongest fishhook. Large num
bers of this fish quickly gather round and kill the weaker

334 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
animals that cross the stream, and will even attack
wounded alligators as well as the crocodile.
Among the reptiles of the Orinoco valley which are
feared by man the huge anaconda or water snake is most
important. There is also the boa constrictor, which lives
in the woods and eats wild animals such as deer or even
tame calves and colts that stray into its haunts. A very
poisonous species of snake is the mapanare, which lies
coiled up on the branches overhanging the river and strikes
quickly downward at animals passing beneath.
Of the other animals of the Orinoco lowlands per
haps the most interesting is the jaguar, which makes its
home in the dense forests and is held in great dread
by the country people. Each year lives are lost on
account of the ravages of this fierce beast. The puma is
a cowardly animal as compared with the jaguar. It
makes its home in the hills and is little feared. The
haunts' of the great gray tapir, the water-hog, and the
peccary are the wet jungles along the river banks. In
the grasslands beside the river are hundreds of the small
savanna deer. These come out of the forest morning and
evening to feed on the sweet savanna grass, though it is
hard to approach them, for they are extremely wary and
as timid as mice. In the forest patches scattered through
out the savanna country or the llanos, and along the
streams, are to be found monkeys; but these are rather
scarce now since they are so constantly hunted by the
Indians for food. Few animals that the Indian of the
llanos hunts are so delicious to his taste as monkey.
The Forest Lands along the River. Among the trees
of the llanos region are many which serve the needs of
man. The palm flourishes here greatly to man's benefit.
One kind is called "thatch-palm" by the settlers and
ranchmen, who use it in making a thatch or roof for

MOUNTAINS AND LLANOS OF VENEZUELA 335
their houses (Fig. 174) ; it is called "hat-palm" by the hat
makers, who braid it into sombreros; and it is called

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Fig. 174. Typical ranch house on the llanos of Venezuela
"fan-palm" by travelers, who use its leaves to drive away
the troublesome insects. Then there is a tree called the
mimosa which is like the willow and spreads aloft a
delicate feathery crown like a dainty- parasol. In some
of the valleys bordering the plains are mahogany, cedar,
rubber trees, and cinchona of several kinds. The upper
waters of the Guaniamo are so affected by the sarsaparilla
growing in great numbers along its banks that the people
who live in the valley drink the water and bathe in it in
order to cure themselves of skin diseases, of which they
have many kinds.
The Region of Woods. Southern Venezuela is called
by the natives La zona de- los bosques, which means "the
region of the woods." It will be worth while to see in
what respects its life differs from that of the plains. It is
but little known and has a thin population, but it is one
of the most interesting and certainly one of the most
mysterious parts of the country and holds many wonders
that tempt the traveler. Here are forests so vast and so
dense that men can travel through the region only by

33° SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
following the water courses. Back from the river lanes
the vegetation is so thick that man can hardly cut his way
through it. Even the Indians that dwell in the gloomy
depths of the forest or on the banks of the rivers that
thread through its great jungles know but little about
it except that it is the home of the wild beasts which
they hunt for food ; they believe also that in its shadowy
depths dwell evil spirits that lie in wait for the unwary.
The People of the Forest. The- men who dwell in the
tropical .forest of southern Venezuela are few in number
and follow the life of the hunter. They have all sorts of
superstitions about the hills and valleys. Demons live
among the inaccessible crags of the mountains of the
south and cause the thunder, the lightning, and the
wind. Upon one of the mountains their legends have
placed a large lake so deep that it cannot be. fathomed,
and its waters are believed to be the abode of huge and'
strange creatures not found elsewhere.
A peculiarity of these people of the forest, living as
they do far from neighbors, is their differences of speech
from place to place. Each village has its distinct dialect,
and this is true even in the case of a small village. Yet
it is a perfectly natural effect of the kind of country in
which these people dwell. It seems to be due to the lack
of any easy means of travel and trade. The forest is so
dense and vast that it keeps people apart, and wherever
this happens anywhere in the world each group becomes
unlike its neighbors. Small differences spring up and
grow until a separate dialect is developed. Neighboring
villages have long-standing blood feuds, and their bitter
quarrels have added to the effect of the forest and increased
the differences not only of speech but also of manner.
The Scattered People of the Caura Valley. The great
Caura tributary that rises within the mountain systems

MOUNTAINS AND LLANOS OF VENEZUELA 337
of southern. Venezuela flows through dense forests and the
wildest mountain country and at last comes out upon the

Fig. 175.

Courtesy of Hiram Bingham
Canoe on the Magdalena loaded with bananas

plains that border the Orinoco. During the rainy season
small steamers may go up the Caura for some distance ; but
it is impossible for them to go beyond Temblador, where
the journey becomes dangerous for dugout canoes. For
forty or fifty miles the country is a rolling grass-covered
plain, bordered by belts or patches of forest in the low
ground and along the streams. The entire region is
thinly populated. With the exception of Maripa few of
the places can be called even villages; they are merely
clearings where rice, sugar cane, bananas, potatoes, and
yams are grown, and where one may find a house or two,
the home of the settler to whom the little plantation
belongs. The people do business in tonka beans, cedar,
and copaiba oil. Some years ago tonka beans brought
as much as four dollars a pound and collecting them
22

33§ SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
became the principal business of the people, but to-day
the price, is very low and the people have turned to the
raising of rice as their principal means of livelihood.
This they ship to Ciudad Bolivar.
The Indians of the Caura. On the upper waters of the
Caura the Indians appear, first those that depend partly
upon agriculture for food and live in clearings in the forest
and then Indians that live by hunting and fishing. The
little Indian farms of the clearings are worked in the
most simple way. Corn is planted in a hole made by
thrusting a sharp stick into the ground. Some cotton is
grown and is employed in making hammocks, which the
Indians use almost entirely as sleeping places. Even
those Indians that till the ground get a part of their food
supply from forest and stream. They are expert fisher
men with the bow and arrow and also use the hook and
line. All game which they keep from one day to the next
is smoked. When food happens to be plentiful they eat
a great deal, frequently getting up in the night to eat, and
when there is no food* on hand they go hungry. In the
immediate neighborhood of the clearings, game is scarce,
but now and then a tapir is killed, or a wild hog or peccary,
when he visits the garden, but this does not happen often.
The Wild Mountain Country of the South. Along the
southern border of Venezuela are the mountains of the
Serra Pacaraima and Serra Parima. This is the southern
frontier of Venezuela, where only wild savages dwell,
a little-known and mysterious land into which the white
settler will not venture for many years to come. It is
the land of crag and wild beast, of forest and savage
Indian. When the Commission appointed to lay down
the boundary between Venezuela and Brazil in 1880-
1883 did their field work they did not even visit the
Parima and Pacaraima highland; they merely guessed

MOUNTAINS AND LLANOS OF VENEZUELA 339
at the positions of the mountain crests and drew their
boundary lines accordingly.
Coastal Features and Harbors. The interior of Vene
zuela is not easy to reach from the sea on account of the
obstacles which lie along its coast. The Orinoco delta
— low, hot, marshy, bordered by mangrove swamps, and
without products useful to man — stretches along the
eastern coast for seven hundred miles, almost as far as
from Charleston to New York. Along the northern
coast a range of mountains borders the shore, and its
steep slopes descend to sea level, offering only a few havens
where ships may lie safely at anchor and load and
unload their cargoes. One coast is too low and the other
too high; one is too flat, the other too steep; one has
abundant channels to the interior where the interior is of
least use to man; the other has no natural harbors where
harbors are sorely needed, for most of the present wealth
of Venezuela is to be found along the north shore and the
country bordering the southern edge of the coast ranges.
The only stream in all Venezuela that is navigable from
the sea, besides the Orinoco and a few of its longest
branches, is the Catatumbo, which empties into the Gulf
or Lake of Maracaibd on the northwestern coast. It and
its chief tributary, the Zulia River, are navigable by small
steamers throughout the year. Even this river system,
small as it is, belongs practically in part to Colombia, for
it is through the upper valley that the Colombians of
the province of Magdalena find their way to the sea for
travel and the shipment of goods.
The "Little Venice" of Venezuela. The only deep
embayment along the whole coast of Venezuela is the Gulf
of Maracaibo to which the Catatumbo is tributary. But
if Venezuela has no good natural harbors on account of
the mountains and the delta, and if her inlets are few in

340 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
number, she has at least the distinction of having the
largest inlet on the entire northern coast of South America:
the Gulf of Maracaibo. It should really be called a lake
because its waters are fresh, a condition due partly to the
large amount of rain that falls upon the seaward slopes of
the coast ranges and is carried down to the Maracaibo
by its many tributaries and partly also to the fact that
at the mouth of the lake there is a huge sand bar which
practically keeps out the tides and prevents the salt and
the fresh water from being mixed. The "Sack of Vene
zuela," as the gulf is called, has an area as great as the
state of Rhode Island — nine thousand square miles.
At this point on the coast of Venezuela there is also an
outer embayment, the Gulf of Venezuela. Sometimes it
is called the Gulf of Venice for a rather interesting reason.
When Hojeda and Vespucci, two Spanish explorers who
sailed the coast of Venezuela in 1499, first came in sight-
of the outer gulf they found there a group of water-
houses, or dwellings on piles with waterways between
the rows of dwellings, and canoes tied to the posts. The '
picture seemed to them very much like that at Venice
where the houses are built on the water's edge and the
canals are used in place of streets, and where every one
makes his way about in gondolas. So they called the
place "Little Venice," and the inlet for a time was indeed
called Venice. Little Venice is translated in the Spanish
"Venezuela," a pretty name that soon spread to the
whole region. This was the name given to the Spanish
colony of the place, and when the colony became inde
pendent through the work ¦ of Bolivar and others, the
republic they formed was called Venezuela.
Since the Gulf or Lake of Maracaibo is the natural outlet
of a large region which includes not only part of Venezuela
but also a portion of Colombia, a large town has grown

MOUNTAINS AND LLANOS OF VENEZUELA 341
up through which the business of the country is done.
This is the town and port of Maracaibo, built on the shore
of the channel connecting the outer and inner bays.. It
is the chief port whence are sent the coffee grown on the
hillside plantations, the cacao from the lowlands about the
shores of the bay, the cattle and hides from the ranches
of the hills and mountain valleys that rim the gulf and
the grasslands that stretch south of them, the minerals
that are mined in the mountains roundabout, and all the
other produce of the region. Here are also found even
to-day pile dwellings like those that gave the name to the
region and still lend a peculiar aspect to ttte place. In
the life of the Maracaibo streets there is a curious mixture
of speech and habit. The old dwellers on the- shore are
still here, and here too are the Indian of the uplands,
the Spanish planter and ranchman, and French and
German merchants with their stock of imported goods
for shipment to the interior.

CHAPTER XVII
THE GUIANAS: THE ONLY EUROPEAN
COLONIES IN SOUTH AMERICA
The Three Guianas. Upon the northeastern shore of
South America are three colonies of special interest be
cause they are the sole mainland possessions of European
countries on the continent. They are the Guianas —
English, French, and Dutch Guiana. We hear little about
them in this country, for they are not generally visited
by tourists as is the case with most other countries of
South America. They have had a rather complex political
history, having changed hands several times after the
close of one or another European war. One may, however,
find in them many things of interest : beautiful landscapes,
great waterfalls, curious peoples, and large towns.
Where the People Live. While the Guianas are of
considerable size, they are so hot and unhealthful that
few white people live in them, and these for the most
part live along the coast and the banks of the rivers.
More than nine tenths of all the people live on the low,
hot, fever-stricken plains within four or five miles of
the sea. Only about one hundred and fifty square miles
are under cultivation in British Guiana, about sixty-five
square miles in Dutch Guiana, and but fifteen square miles
in French Guiana. French Guiana has been used for
many years as a penal station to which are banished con
victs from France sentenced to more than eight years'
hard labor (Fig. 176). The most successful of the three
colonies is British Guiana, with a white population of
more than a quarter of a million. Dutch Guiana comes
342

THE GUIANAS

343

next, with a population of eighty-five thousand, while
French Guiana numbers but thirty thousand people.
The Swamps and Dikes
of Guiana. The lowland-
portion of Guiana is from
thirty to fifty miles wide
and extends landward as
an alluvial plain in which
the streams deposit clays
and sands, and great
masses of tangled vegeta
tion, that come floating
down from the forest-bor
dered banks farther up
stream. The outer shore
is bordered by mangroves
and courida bushes in very
much the same way as
these water-loving plants
border the outer shores of
the delta of the Orinoco
and the banks of all the
streams. About the mat
ted roots of the tangled
mangroves, water-loving
sedges take root, and these
and the roots themselves
clog the rivers and make
them deposit their silt,.
gradually building up the
bottom until a tract form-

Courtesy of W. D. Boyce
Fig. 176. Convicts on the way to
work, Cayenne, French Guiana

erly under water is made into marsh and finally into land.
The courida bush has a great mass of club-like roots
projecting above the bottom muds and anchored in them.

344 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
Neither the hot sunshine at low tide when the roots are
exposed to the air,, nor the salt water at high tide, have-
any bad effect upon the plant, though such extremes
would destroy an ordinary tree. But if a planter cuts
down the courida or the mangroves to let in the cool
breeze, the sea gnaws away at the roots until they are
destroyed and then invades the land.
Upon the flat lowland the English, Dutch, and French
have laid out plantations of sugar, rice, and tropical
fruits. The narrow strip of land along the coast on
which these plantations are found is not more than
eight or ten miles wide. The traveler to Dutch Guiana
is surprised at the sight of certain features which are
thought more characteristic of the Netherlands than of
the Guianas of South America. The land lies so low.
that it is constantly threatened by the sea, and the
people have at great expense built a sea dike for the
protection of their homes. But the defenses of the Dutch
have not always been successful. At one time the
settlement of Nickerie on the Corentyn River had
streets lined with stores, public buildings, and churches.
But bit by bit the land was torn away and one house
after another carried off, until finally even the gardens
back of the town were invaded, and to-day only a small
part of Nickerie remains.
The lowland rivers wind about in the most erratic
manner before they reach the sea. In many cases the
narrow necks of land between river curves have been
connected by short, deep, and navigable canals built
with the painstaking care for which the Dutch are famous,
creeks and canals completing an intricate system of
waterways which combine the features of Venice and
Holland. Except for a few diamonds and a little rubber and

THE GUIANAS

345

valuable wood, from the interior, the products of the
-Guianas come wholly from the alluvial lands near the sea,
Sugar (Fig. 177) has always been the most important
export together with the related products, molasses .and
rum. Coffee was produced at one time in large amounts,
but its production - has never compared with that of
the great coffee countries. The lowlands are admirably
suited for rice, which requires repeated flooding and
increasing quantities of fine quality are raised, besides
sea-island cotton. The chief difficulty arises from an
occasional drought. For example, in 1911-1912 the rain
fall was so scant that but fifty per cent of the average
amount of sugar was exported and the rice crop of .March
and April was a complete failure. Dutch Guiana also
produces important quantities of tropical fruit and
French Guiana exports cacao, besides sugar and coffee.
The Savannas and Mountains of the Interior. Inland
from the low coastal strip of the Guianas are the savannas

Fig. 1 77. Laborers' dwellings on a sugar plantation in British Guiana

34° SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READKK
or grassy plains like the llanos of Venezuela, and with
somewhat the same kind of life. Farther inland are
the mountains and low plateaus, the most famous and
the highest of which is Roraima (8,635 feet), in British
Guiana, a great sandstone table with bordering rock
walls three thousand" feet high, the first half of the
descent being vertical. From the top of this table
mountain there fall several small streams which are far
and away the highest waterfalls on the earth — sixteen
hundred feet. So high, indeed, are these wonderful
cascades that long before the water reaches the foot of
the cliff it is blown into thousands of ribbons of spray.
The most famous of all the great falls of the mountain
country are the Kaieteur Falls in the Potaro valley with
a drop of seven hundred and forty-one feet — more than
four times as high as Niagara. So deep is the gorge into
which the great river tumbles that only now and then
does a sound come out of the depths other than the
subdued rumble that may be heard at all times. When
the wind blows from below, a deep roar comes up from
the river-worn caverns. The spray rising from the falls
waters the gorge walls copiously and supports a brilliant
green moss which lends a dash of color to the otherwise
somber Guiana forest.
The Animals of the Coastal Swamps. In the swampy
districts of the coast are found the marsh deer, and the wild
dog which hunts in large packs like the wolves of northern
countries. In common with other regions in South
America, the lowlands of Guiana are also the home of tapirs
(Fig. 178) and several kinds of peccaries that travel about
in herds of a hundred or more, and are sometimes danger
ous to man. Here also are found the bell bird, with a
musical note that sounds like two iron bars struck to
gether; and the quow, which is about the size of a pigeon

THE GUIANAS

347

and makes a deep, low sound like the lowing of a calf,
and is generally called the "calf bird." Millions of water
fowl of many kinds live on the river banks and find their
food in the muddy water of the rivers or in the tangled
depths of the forest far from man. The coast meadows
literally swarm with the wild fowl of the country. The
great white heron, the ibis, the egret, and the spurwing-
occur in thousands, and almost every bush and tree
has its birds of prey that sit and plume themselves by
the hour.
Besides these birds are others commonly found in
tropical regions and especially in tropical South America.
Among them are parrots, macaws, chatterers, humming
birds, vultures, hawks, and owls. Almost all of them are
noted for their brilliant plumage, which is most attractive
in contrast to the greens and browns of the dense tropical
foliage. But the birds of the tropics, however beautiful
they appear to the eye, are not attractive to the ear;

Fig. 178. Tapir and young, one of the wild animals found in
British Guiana

348 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
their notes are coarse or guttural and in place of the
musical tones of our northern birds one hears only sharp,
shrill calls or loud, booming, throaty tones.
The Migratory Indians of the Savannas. When the
white man came to Guiana he found the country overrun
by scattered tribes of Indians; but to-day the Indian
people are confined almost wholly to the interior. ' They
have not gotten on well with the whites and under harsh
treatment have fled farther and farther from the coast.
Upon the interior savannas, the grasslands of Guiana,
they still live in tribes and maintain nomadic habits,
a peculiar religion, and strange social customs. They
roam about at pleasure, although each tribe when hunt
ing confines itself to a district that is not claimed by
any other tribe in the country. They live as best they
can in rough shelters such as may be made from huge
palms, whose broad, flat leaves can be fastened together
with little difficulty as a protection from the rain. Their
shelter is but slightly better than that of the wild- beasts •-
they hunt for food. The only furniture they have are
hammocks of their own iriaking, which they use alike for
sitting and for sleeping. It is the business of the men to
hunt and fish, and of the women to cultivate the cassava,
to weave the hammocks, prepare the food, and brew the
drink. A stop is made in one place only long enough for
a- crop to be grown or until the game fails, when they
embark in their rough canoes and search the rivers -for
some other hunting site.-
The River Names. Every river and waterfall of the
Indian country has its unseen deity and all the/ivers are
named from the kind of game found in them or from some
striking characteristic which first impressed the people.
One stream is called Macaw Creek, for the macaw is found
there in greater numbers than is any other tropical bird.

THE GUIANAS 349
Another is called Tapir Creek, another the Silk-cotton
Creek, another the Creek of Flies and Mosquitos, another
Snake Creek, and still another was called after the peculiar
note of the frogs that inhabit it in great numbers. While
the Indian names appear to us to have a very foolish sound;
they are full of meaning to the natives and of downright
value in their hunting expeditions. Hardly a game bird,
beast, or fish can be mentioned whose name has not been
used in the naming of some creek or river or mountain
brook in the Guianas.
Other streams were named for the fruits on their shores,
the nuts, wild plums, and pineapples gathered there for
food. The Indians have not named a single stream for
a person. It always bears some name which indicates
what sort of a stream it is, what kind of food may be
found there, whether it is easy or difficult to travel, or
if it is known for its wild beasts and snakes.
Even the largest river of the Guianas bears an Indian
name to which the Indians at one time attached signifi
cance. The name means in the Indian language "The
River of Fire Stones," and is founded upon a story to the
effect that a fleet of canoes filled with Arawak Indians
once sought shelter at its mouth. A heavy storm was en
countered and made it necessary to turn the canoes back
behind some sheltering point. - In turning up the river most
of the canoes were upset. The Indians swam ashore, and
later recovered their canoes, but not their fire stones. The
fire stones are always carried in the bottoms of the canoes
and are used in supporting the pots in which the Indians
cook their food. It is of great importance to have these
because the land is so low and flat that camp sites are found
with great difficulty; and the alluvial river plains near the
coast- are of such fine material that stones are not found
there. They must be brought oftentimes from great

35° SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
distances, from the uplands and mountains of the interior,
and are bought and sold like ordinary merchandise. To
the Indians, the loss of the fire stones is a serious matter,
quite as serious as if a cooking pot or a bow and arrow were
lost, indeed more so, for the latter can easily be made
almost anywhere. So the Arawaks named the river
"The River of the Fire Stones," or the Essequibo River,
and the Arawak word for this phrase was adopted by the
whites and is in use to-day.
The Bush Negroes of the Forest. The "bush negroes"
are a group of people found only in Dutch Guiana.
Their settlements extend from near the French frontier
westward to about the source of the Coppename River.
They are a fine-looking lot of people: many of the men
are more than six feet tall, with straight limbs and frank
countenances. In many respects they live like the
negroes one may find in the interior of Africa. They
cultivate farms and even engage to some extent in the
lumber trade.
The bush negroes were once slaves of the Dutch, but
there were so many of them in the land that they became
much stronger than their masters, and were able to gain
their freedom. They ran away from their owners by
thousands and were soon lost in the dense forest, through
which their pursuers could travel only with the greatest
difficulty. Once in the forest they could live as they had
lived in Africa, by hunting and fishing and by cultivating
the few simple vegetables upon which they depend for
their supply of food. The Dutch were not inclined, how
ever, to sit idly by and see their former slaves run off into
the woods. They began a series of wars which lasted
for more than seventy years and which cost not less than
thirty millions of dollars. In addition to this great cost
in money one must remember the great loss in lives, the

THE GUIANAS 351
bitter feeling the war caused between the whites and the
blacks, and the terrible blow which all these events dealt
to the industries of the colony.
The Beautiful Forests of the Guianas. Nothing in the
Guianas is more impressive than the great primeval forest
as seen on the banks of the Essequibo in British Guiana.
One may travel up the middle course of this river for
seventy miles without finding an opening except where
some tributary stream flows into it. The profuse vegeta
tion literally hangs over the surface of the river like a
curtain. But if the great South American forest is impres
sive and imposing, it is at the same time forbidding. On
either bank the vegetation reaches to a height of from one
hundred and seventy-five to two hundred feet, the whole
forest being bound with innumerable creepers and trailers
into a mass that the eye can scarcely penetrate. The
sunlight barely reaches its interior, and what there is of it
appears in scattered patches of reflected light.
"Now the creek is alrnost closed by a lattice of bush-
ropes and then we have to pass under a leaning trunk or
branch almost touching the water. Hundreds of cord
like aerial roots depend from the topmost branches of the
trees, and have to be moved aside as we get among them,
while great bunches of flowers depend from the creepers,
which also obstruct the way in some places.
"If the creek is not kept open by Indians it is often
choked by vegetation. A dense wall of creepers forms a
curtain, and we can orily push through by aid of our
cutlasses, which are always carried for this purpose in bush
traveling. Under water are the remains of trees which
have fallen during several centuries. . . . When a giant
mora is undermined by the flood, and can no longer be
supported by its weaker neighbors, it comes down with a
crash, carrying destmction to everything in its way. A

352 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
score of smaller trees will have their heads torn off or
limbs severed, and perhaps a hundred palms, marantas,
and low bushes be smashed to pieces." (Keane.)
In traveling through British Guiana one is struck by
the almost total absence of anything beyond the wall of
vegetation on either hand. Scarcely a single hut of any
kind may be seen for miles. Only by looking closely at
the river banks can one see, here and there under the
bushes, a canoe or a small boat. If one goes closer, he
finds a small opening; and if the water is low, a log may
be seen lying on the mud; this is the landing stage. By
means of it one may get ashore and find a narrow, muddy
path which leads through the forest to a tiny hut,
thatched with palm leaves, far back from the river.
A City below Sea Level. The most important city in
the Guianas is Georgetown in British Guiana, with a
population of fifty thousand. The greater part of it is
below the level of high tide so that the houses are built on
piles. On the whole it is a very unhealthful location in
spite of the cool sea breezes that blow almost constantly
during the day. The flat plain on which the city is
built is drained with great difficulty. Through the center
of many streets canals have been dug and on the placid
surface of the water in them enormous Victoria Regia
water lilies float. During a large part of the year the
rains are heavy and frequent, a condition which • has
given rise to the saying in Georgetown that it only stops
raining to begin pouring. Since the rains are abundant
and the river water stagnant and unfit to drink the people
depend upon rain water for drinking purposes, gathering-
it in cisterns built beside the houses so as to catch the
drainage of the roof.
Georgetown exhibits a great mixture of races. There
are negroes from Africa, coolies from India, and native

THE GUIANAS 353
Indians, besides Portuguese, Chinese, English, Spanish,
Jewish, and Dutch. The coolies were brought over from
India to work on the sugar plantations just outside of
Georgetown, for at one time the production of sugar was
a great industry here but declined chiefly on account of
the liberation of the slaves.
A short distance outside Georgetown the country
becomes wild, and a thick jungle borders the banks of the
rivers. With the exception of a short railway line the

Courtesy of W. D. Boyee
Fig. 179. A view of Paramaribo, the capital of Dutch Guiana
only means of communication is by boats of all sorts
along the courses of the various lagoons, creeks, and
rivers. For some distance inland the streams, have
gentle currents and the ocean tides run far upstream — on
the Demarara for about- ninety miles. Soon, however,
the river boats reach a more rugged country with a
series of great waterfalls around whose deep gorges and
foaming cascades every pound of merchandise must be
taken on men's backs with great labor. At many of
them are towns of some importance where a carrying
trade for the river merchants has sprung up.
Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana, and Para
maribo (Fig. 179), the capital of Dutch Guiana, are the
23

354 SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER
only other cities in the Guianas. All other centers of pop
ulation are mere villages beside the rivers and canals or
on the few footpaths and poor trails that lead toward
the interior. The village populations rarely exceed a
thousand; and a few dozen or a few hundred are much
more common. Cayenne has thirteen thousand five
hundred people and Paramaribo has thirty-four thousand,
or about one third and one half of the total population of
French and Dutch Guiana, respectively. Both are on the
fringe of the land. Cayenne is on an island of the same
name and Paramaribo is near the mouth of the Surinam
River. Of the two, Paramaribo is by far the cleaner and
the more beautiful. Both have high temperatures, are
built almost at sea level, and are unhealthful. They
represent, with Georgetown, the climax of such, civilization
as exists in these strange and backward tropical colonies
— all that are left of the once vast European possessions
in South America.

THE INDEX
All figures refer to pages; stars indicate illustrations and maps.

Aconcagua, 75.
Acre, 260.
Agasslz, Louis, 268.
Agriculture, see Farming.
Aguirre, Lope de, 237.
Alfalfa, Argentine, 33, 43*.
Alpacas, 139.
Amazon Basin, 3, 199, 204, 218, 296;
Indians, 245-253; rubber forest,
251-253; trade, 265; turtles, load
ing, 268*.
Amazon River, 6, 84, 206, 237-242,
241*, 269, 297; canoe travel on,
242*; drainage, 239; explorers of,
268-269; length, 241; settlement on
the, 238*; source, 241; tributaries,
239, 241, 264.
Amazon Valley, cacao, 252, 255;
climate, 242; forests, 242-245;
people, distribution of, 253; rainfall,
241, 242; rubber, 237, 255-269;
salt, 264.
Amazonas, 200.
Amazonia, 237-269.
Ambato, 285.
Ambato-Riobamba road, a country
housewife grinding oats for bread in
a home on, 282*.
Andes, 3, 6, 29-30, 37, 38, 55, 85, 88*,
146, 148, 239, 246*, 297, 298, 300,
308; mountain trail in the Maritime,
88*; mountain village in the eastern,
137*.
Angostura, see Ciudad Bolivar.
Animals, Argentine, 45-46; Bolivia,
139, 140-142, 143; Chile, 78, 79;
Ecuador, 274, 276; Guiana, 346-348;
Peru, 139, 140-142, 143; Venezuela,
332-334; see also names of animals.
Antofagasta, 99, 113, 119, 122;
unloading merchandise, 123*.
Antofagasta-Bolivia railway, sail-car
on, 85*.
Apure River, 328, 329, 330, 331;
Dongo on the, 328*; junction of
tributaries of, 327*.
Araucanians, 173.
Araucaria, vegetation map between
pp. 316 and 317*.
Arequipa, 110; washing and drying
wool from the Andean table-lands
in, 144*.
Argentine, 3, 6, 11, 27, 29, 34, 35-72,
75, 192, 198, 215, 216; alfalfa, 33,
43*: animals of the pampas in,
45-46; araucaria forests, vegetation
map, between pp. 316 and 317*;
as one of the world's granaries, 48 ;

borax, 59; boundary disputes, 75, 76;
cattle, 51, 55; cities, 61-69, see
also names of cities; climate, 41-42,
59, 60, 71; coal, 50-51; copper, 56;
cowboy, 40*; 181*; dairying, 52;
dry basin region, 59-60; exports, 67;
farming, 38*, 42, 43*; floods, 42, 70;
forests, 70, vegetation map between
pp. 316 and 317*; fruit, 57; gauchos
(cowboys), 46-47, 181*; goats, 60*;'
gold, 56; Gran Cham 176-184;!
grasslands, 70-72; grazing. 36, 41/
52, 60-61, 71; homes, 60; horseback
riding, 39, 40*; horses, 52; iron, 56;
llamas, 60, 61; manufactures, 48-50;
mining, 56-58; pampas, 37-48;
population, 35; portSrtSB-eS; Que
bracho logs, 182*; railroads, 52*,
53-56; rainfall in the pampas, 42;
ranch, 46*, 47* 49*: salt, 37, 59;
sheep, 46, 52, 60*; silver, 56; size,
35; squatters, 71; stream bed used
as a road in northwestern, 56*;
sugar, 10, 178*; transportation,
53-54; 58-59; wheat, 48, 50*.
Arica, province, 111; town, 110, 111,
112, 124, famous hill near, 112*.
Asuncion, 191; capital and largest
city of Paraguay, 188*.
Atacama Desert, Chaco cattle, 180*;
pastoral nomads with flocks of sheep
and goats on western border, 60*;
white sand drifts, 109*; wind ripples
on surface of a sand dune, 86*.
Atrato River, 300.
Aullagas, 133.
Babahoyo River, natives poling boat,
277*.
Bahia (Sao Salvador), 10, 204; looking
across the bay from the port, 204*;
one of the coastal cities of Brazil,205*.
Bahia Blanca, 68-69.
Bananas, 266; Brazil, 213; Colombia,
311; Venezuela, 337.
Barley, Bolivia, 155; Peru, 155.
Barranquilla, 310-311; harbor where
the river journey begins, 302*;
sewing class in a school in, 296*.
Barrier reef of Brazil, 235-236.
Batelao, 258-259; hauling across falls
of Madeira, 259*; rubber unloaded
from, 257*.
Bear, 276.
Belem, see Para.
Bermejo River, 177, 178.
Birds of the Argentine pampas, 44;
Guiana, 346-347.

XIV SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

Black race, Races of Man, facing
p. 317*.
Blow-gun, 275.
Boca de Cenizas, 311.
Bodegas, 291-293.
Bogota, 302, 310, 311-312; looking
eastward from the center of, 309*.
Bogota River, see Funza.
Bolivar, Simon, 328.
Bolivia, 9, 192, 264; animals, 134,139,
140-143, 142*, 148; barley, 155;
cactus, 150; cities, 132, 152-156,
252* see also names of cities;
climate, 128, 155, 157-159, 160;
farming, 135-136; fishing, 143-145;
fuel; 149-152; Gran Chaco, 176-184;
grazing, 139-140, 163; highland
dwellers, 128-160; homes, 128, 136,
153, 160, 250*; hunting, 142; Incas,
161-175; Indians, 243*, 248-251;
irrigation, 133-134, 136; minerals,
110, 128, 130, 134; money, ten-cent
piece, 141*; mountain folk of western,
148-149, 156-160; mountains,. 137*;
oven, out-of-door, 151*; plateau and
valley contrasts, 160; plateau of
western, 158*; plateau without trees,
136-139; population, density of,
130* 132-133; potatoes, 155; prod
ucts, 155, 163; railroad, 85*; relief
map, 129*; rubber, 183, 200; salt,
138*, 146-148, 148*, 264; scene in
western, 138*; sheep, 134, 139;
silver, 128; "Switzerland of South
America," 128; terraced alluvial
fans, 134*, 134-136; wool, 142, 155.
Bombilla, 216.
Borax, Argentine, 59; Chile, 114,
115; Peru, 111.
Botafogo, 233; Avenida Beiro Mar,
Rio de Janeiro, 231*.
Boundary disputes, Chile and Argen
tine, 75, 76; Chile and Peru, 110-
112; Ecuador, 272; Incas and Span
iards, 172-173.
Boundary treaty of Colombia and
Brazil, 298.
Bravo River, 65.
Brazil, 82, 198, 199-236, 264;
Amazon Basin, 199, 204, 218;
animals, 199, 227; araucaria, 215-
217, vegetation map between pp.
316 and 317*; bananas, 213; barrier
reef, 235-236; boundary treaty
between Colombia and, 298; cacao,
280; campos, 211-214; carnauba,
229-230; cattle, 199, 209, 227;
cities, 205*, 219-220, 219*, 222*,
224*, 230-235, 231*, 232*, 233*,
234*, see also names of cities;
climate, 201, 204-210, 217, 218,
220; coffee, 10, 199*, 210*, 212,
217-224, 222*, 223*, 224*, 227;
coffee district, 218*; cotton, 227;
coral, 235; diamonds, 225; exports,
219; farming, 226-227; forests, 227,
vegetation map between pp. 316 and

317*; grasses, 209, 212-214; grazing,
N 212, 227; hurricanes, 207; Indians,
202, 215; iron, 225, 226; irrigation,
208; mining, 199, 224-227; moun
tains, 204-205; New Germany in,
211; origin of name, 229; palms,
213; people, 202-204; population,
200; railroads, 217, 218; rainfall,
.206-207; rice, 212, 214-215; rubber,
199; salt, 230; size, 200-201; soil,
216-217; sugar, 212, 213, 227, 229;
tea, 215-217; tobacco, 227; wax,
230; white population in, 203-204;
winds, 204-205; wine, 229.
British Guiana, 342; cities, 352-353;
fruit, 344; laborers' dwellings on a
sugar plantation,- 345*; population,
342; rice, 344; sugar, 344, 353.
Buenaventura, 306.
Buenos Aires, 10, 42, 53, 54, 61-66,
197; buildings and people, 62-63;
Central Market, 63, 64*; lights and
buoys of the river port, 64-65.
Bullock wagons, 53-54.
Cacao, Amazon Valley, 252, 255;
Brazil, 280; Ecuador, 11, 278, 2S0,
290*, 291;- French Gutena, 345;
gathering pods at La Clementine
plantation, 12*; Sao Thome, 280;
Venezuela, 329.
Cactus, Bolivia, 150; Peru, 150; tree,
from which wood is obtained, 139*. ,
Cajon Negro Pass, 34.
Caldera, 99.
Caleta Buena, 113, 122; railway line
up the face of the steep 3,000-foot
bluff at, 10*.
Caliche, beds of the desert, 114-116;
piles of raw nitrate or, 116*.
Callao, 104.
Camel of the plateau, 140.
Campana, 68.
"Canal del Mercador," 66.
Canoe fires, 15.
t'anunta River, 264.
Cape Horn, 19.
Caracas, 5, 317, 318, 319, 328, 331;
Avenida del Sur, principal shopping
street of, 319*; University and
Academy of History, 318*; view of,
317*.
Caribbean Sea, 294-295.
Caribe, 333. ,
Carnauba, 229-230.
Cartagena, 311; walls of, built in the
old Spanish days, 310*.
Catamarca, 56.
Cataracts, 264.
Catatumbo River, 339.
Cattle, Argentine, 51-52, 55; Brazil,-
199, 209, 227; Colombia, 308;
Ecuador, 278, 284, 291 ; Gran Chaco,
176, 180*, 183; Paraguay, 191;
Venezuela, 325, 329, 330, 331-332,
331*.
Cauca River, 300, 305.'

THE INDEX

XV

Caura River, 336-338.
Cayenne, 353, 354; convicts on the
way to work, 343*.
Ceara, droughts of, 207-208.
Cedar trees, 335.
Cerro de Pasco, 242; silver mine that
enriched the Spanish centuries ago,
131*.
Cerro Munchlque, 299.
Cesar River, 301 ; cattle ranches of the
valley of the, 308.
Challapata, llama caravan at, 142*.
Chaparc River, 243*, 248; Bolivian
Indian shooting fish in, 249*;
Indians and canoe on, 243*.
Charcoal burning, 292-293.
Chile, 3, 5, 9, 11, 27, 30, 32, 34, 73-
127, 192: animals, 78, 79; Arica,
famous hill near, -112*; borax, 114,
115; boundary disputes, 73, 75-76,
110, 112; "Christ of the Andes,"
monument erected on boundary line
between Chile and the Argentine,
after a boundary quarrel between
Argentine and, 76*; cities, 110-114,
119-126, see. also names of cities;
climate, 6, 73, 77, 80, 86-87, 90,
114; coal, 82; coast of northern,
112-114; copDer, 82, 83; desert,
84-127, 86*, 87*, 115*; earthquakes,
122-124; floods, 127; forests, .80,
81, 86, vegetation map between pp.
316 and 317*; grazing, 79; hauling
water from railroad to mines, 98*;
horses, 73; irrigation, 102*; minerals,
82; nitrate of soda, 11, 111, 114-122,
114*, 116*, 120*; people, 73-74;
products, 101-102; railroads, 113*,
122; rainfall, 93, 127; salt, 11*;
scenery, 80-83; size, 74-75; street
scene in central, 79*; valley of
central, 73-83; vineyards, 79, 80*.
'Chilecito, province, 56-57; town, 57.
Chimborazo, 162, 271, 271*.
Chubut River, 30, 32, 33.
Church, Colonel, 268.
Cinchona, 335.
Clpaquira, 298.
Ciudad Bolivar (Angostura), 326,
328, 330, 338.
Climate, mild belts of South America,
facing p. 9*; rainfall, mean annual,
facing p. 8*; rainfall, mean January,
facing p. 202*; rainfall, mean July,
facing p. 203*; temperature, mean
January, facing p. 124*; tempera
ture, mean July, facing p. 125*.
Cliza Valley, 133.
Coal, Argentine, 50-51; Chile, 82,
Cochabamba, 133, 136, 155, 175.
Coffee, Brazil, 10, 199, 212, 217-224,
227: district, 218*; drying, Sao
Paulo, 222*; Ecuador, 278;'French
Guiana, 345; loading for U. S.
market, Santos, 224*; picking, 199*;
plantation, 210*; plantations, vil
lages of the* 222-224; planting, 220;

. for market, 221-222;
Venezuela, 329; warehouse, Santos,
223*.
Colastine, 68.
Colombia, 209, 276, 279, 294-313,
340; bananas, 311; boundary treaty
between Brazil and, 298; cattle, 308;
cities, 305, 308-312, 309*, see also
names of cities; climate, 299-300,
305, 307, 312; floods, 305: forests,
308; .Jnaians, 305-308; llanos of
Cagarlare, 325*; missionaries, 310;
mountains, 298-301, 312: native
village, 307*; paramos, 299-300;
people, 294-313; physical features,
296; plains, 296-299; population,
307; rainfall; 312; revolutions, 312-
313; rivers, 300, see also names
of rivers; salt, 297-298; size, 295;
towns, 308-311; transportation, 298,
303*; volcanoes, 299, 312; washer
women on the Magdalena River,
near Barranquilla in, 295*; white
people in, 306-308.
Concepcion, 191.
Conquerors or "Conquistadores,"
1-3.
"Conquest of Peru," 169.
Conway, Sir Martin, 157.
Copiapo, 82, 83; central plaza at, 74*.
Copper, Argentine, 56; Brazil, 225;
Chile, 82, 83; Peru, 108.
Coral, 235.
Corcovado, 233.
Cordillera de Choco, 299.
Cordillera Real, 156-160, 298.
Cordoba, 54.
Corcntyn River, 344.
Corn, 284.
Coronel, 82.
Corrienies, 68 ; general view of , 69*.
Cotahuasi, 135.
Cotopaxi, 270-271.
Cotton,. Brazil, 227; of the Gran
Chaco, 176; Guiana, 345; Peru, 11,
92, 94; picking, with Chinese labor,
Uitarte, 5*.
Courida bush, 343.
Cowboys, 40* 181*, 194, 195.
Cranes, 44.
Crevaux, 178, 268.
Crucero Alto, 109.
Cuenca, 285.
Cuyaba, 234.
Cuzco, 110, 149, 154, 163, 164, 169,
171, 175; ancient capital of the Inca
Empire, 164*; church on central
plaza in, 165*; donkey loaded with
straw ,for fuel, on street, 170*;
selling potatoes in their native
landmarket before Jesuit Church
and College, 166*; twelve-cornered
stone in Inca palace, 162*; walls of
old fort, 172*.
Dawson Island, 17.
Deer, 334. 346.

xvi SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

Delta plains of the Orinoco, 322-
324.
Demarara River, 353.
Desaguadero River, 144, 145; Uros
Indian making a reed canoe on the
border of the great reed swamp of,
146*.
Desert, Atacama, 60*, 86*, 109*,
180*; of Chile, 84-127; Peru, 84-127;
ports, 91-92, 96-99; rainfall, 127;
Tarapaca, 87*, 110-112, 124-127,
126*; travel, 87; vegetation, 84-87,
map between pp. 316 and 317*; see
also oases. '
Diamante, 68.
Diamantina, 225.
Diamonds, Brazil, 225; Guiana, 344.
Dog, wild, 346.
Dutch Guiana, 342, 344, 345; cities,
353-354; fruit, 344, 345; population,
343; rice, 344; sugar, 344.
Earthquakes, 122-124, 270.
Ecuador, 192, 209, 270-293; animals,
274, 276, 278; borders, 271-273;
boundary disputes, 272; cacao, 11,
12*, 278, 280, 290* 291 ; charcoal
burning, 292-293; cities, 285-293,
see also names of cities; coffee, 278;
climate, 277, 284; corn, 284; earth
quakes, 270; floods, 291; hides, 291;
homes, 291-293; Indians, 273-276,
285; ivory, 280-283, 291; lowlands
of the coast, 277-278; meaning of
word, 270; Panama hats, 291; para
mos, 276; people, 273, 281*; plateau,
283-288; plowing with a crooked
stick, 289*; population, 273; prod
ucts, 291; railroads, 285-288; rain
fall, 276, 278, 291; rice, 278, 291
size, 271-272; straw (planta de To
quilla), 279; only seaport of, 288
sugar, 278, 291 ; sugar cane, harvest
ing on a great plantation, 292*
tobacco, 278; volcanoes, 270-271.
285; water power, 286; white people
of, 273.
Eels, 333.
El Dorado, legend of, 2-4, 267.
El Gran Chaco, see Gran Chaco.
El Morro, 112.
Essequibo River (River of Stones),
349-350, 351.
European possessions, 342.
Explorers, Agassiz, Louis, 268
Church, 268; Conway, Sir Martin
157; Crevaux, 178, 268; Farrabee.
269; Germans, 202; Gibbon, 268
Herndon, 268; Hojeda, 340; Hum
boldt, 253, 268; Ibaretta, 179
Keller, 268; Lange, Gunnar, 180
Markham, Sir Clements, 268 ; Pages,
179; Rondon, 269; Roosevelt, 269
Thouar, 179; Vespucius, 229, 340
Wallace, 268.
Famatina Mountains, 57.

Farming, 159*; Argentine, 38*, 42-
43*; Bolivia, 135-136; Brazil, 226,
227; Ecuador, 289*; Inca Empire,
165; Peru, 4*; Uruguay, 194, 195,
196.
Farrabee, 269.
Feast day for a river, 92.
Fishermen, a declining tribe of, 143-
145.
Flamingo, 44, 332.
Floods, Amazon, 241; Argentine, 42,
70; Chile, 127; Colombia, 305;
Ecuador, 291 ; Paraguay, 187; Peru,
92; Venezuela, 326.
Flora of South America, vegetation
map between pp. 316 and 3l7*.
Forests, of the Amazon Valley, 242-
245; Argentine, 70; Brazil, 227;
Chile, 80, 81, 86; Colombia, 308; of
the Gran Chaco, 176-177; Guiana,
351-352; Paraguay, 189; Patagonia,
27; Peru, 86, 106; quebracho, 176;
rubber, 251-253; of South America,
vegetation map between pp. 316
and 317*; Tierra del Fiiego, 17;
tropical, on the banks of a tributary
of the Amazon, 240*; Venezuela,
323, 334-336.
Fox, 276.
Fray Bentos, 194.
French Guiana, 342; cacao, 345;
cities, 353-354; coffee, 345; convicts
in, on way to work, 343*; fruit, 344;
penal station, 342; population, 343;
rice, 344; sugar, 344, 345.
Frias, 129.
Fruit, Argentine, 57; British Guiana,
344, 345; Dutch Guiana, 344, 345;
French Guiana, 344; Venezuela, 329.
Funza (Bogota) River, 311.
Gallegos, 28.
Gailegos River, at low tide, 28*.
Gamelote, 325.
Gauchos (cowboys), 6, 47, 181*, 194.
Georgetown, 352-353.
Germans, 203, 211, 341.
Gibbon, 268.
Glaciers, 15.
Goats, flock of, at Payta, Peru, 95*;
herds of the Piura Valley, 95.
Gold, Argentine, 56; Brazil, 225.
Gorgas, Colonel, 289.
Goyaz, 71, 211, 234, 269.
Gran Chaco, empty spaces Of, 176;
plains of, 176-184; rivers of, 177,
Grazing, Argentine, 36, 36*, 41, 46*,
47*, 52, 60-61, 71; Bolivia, 139-140,
163; Brazil, 212, 227; Chile, 79;
Colombia, 308; Patagonia, 29-30,
31, 32; Peru, 139-140, 163; Uruguay,
194; Venezuela, 322.
Guadeloupe, 312.
Guanaco, 16, 22-24, 29, 30, 45, 142-
143.
Guaqui, 109, 145.
Guaviare River, 300.

THE INDEX

XVU

Guayainini, corral at, 36*.
Guayaquil, 90, 162, 271, 279, 285,
288-291 ; firemen, volunteer, ready to
run with engine, Cathedral Square,
287*; loading cacao at, typical
harbor scene, 290*; part of Malecon,
showing the river front, 288*; street
in, 286*.
Guayaquil, Gulf of, 277.
Guayas River, 277, 288, 291.
Guianas, 269, 342-354; animals, 346,
348; cities, 352-354; climate, 342;
cotton, 345; courida bush, 343;
diamonds, 344; dikes, 343-345;
forests, 351-352; fruit, 344; Indians,
348; mangroves, 343; mountains,
345-346; negroes, 350-351; rainfall,
345, 352; rice, 344, 345; river names,
348-350; rubber, 344; savannas,
345-346; sugar, 344, 345; swamps
and dikes, 343-345; wars, 350;
water falls, 346.
Guiriri, 333.
Herndon, 268.
Heron, 44, 332, 333, 347.
Hojcda, 340.
Homes, Argentine, 60; Bolivia, 128,
136, 153, 160, 250*; Colombia,
306; Ecuador, 291-293; Indian, 26,
202, 248; Paraguay, 190, 191; Peru,
110*; rubber gatherer's, on the
Upper Amazon, 258*; Venezuela,
319, 327, 335* 341.
Honda Kapids, 302.
Horses, Argentine, 52; Brazil, 199;
Chile, 73; Ecuador, 278; Venezuela,
325, 329.
Huasco Lake Basin, 148*.
Huayna Potosi, 157.
Huaynacotas, in the Cotahuasi Val
ley, looking across the terraced
slopes at, 135*.
Humboldt, 253, 268, 323; dream of
great cities on the Amazon, 253-
254.
Hurricanes, 207.
Ibaretta, 179.
Ibicuy River, 66.
Ibis, 44, 332, 347.
Iguassu Falls, 189.
Iguassu River, 65, 189.
Illimani, 157.
Inca Empire, boundaries, 172-173;
civilization, 161-163;crops, 166-167;
Cuzco, ancient capital of, 163, 164*,
170-171; forts, 171*, 172*; irrigation
in, 164; people of, 161; road building
in, 171; Spaniards take possession
of, 175; taxes, 166-167.
Inca kings, 163-165; agents, 165;
and people, 161-175; palaces and
temples, 162*, 169-172
Inca religion, 167-169, 173-174.
Indians! ,29, 128, 131, 143, 188, 190,
197; of Amazon Basin, 245-253; and

canoe on Rio Chapare, 243*; of the
-Andean plateau harvesting potatoes,
159*; Araucanians, 173; Bakairi,
202; blanket weaving among the
plateau, 145*; Bolivia, 243*; Brazil,
202, 215; Carajas, 202; Caribs
(Caraios), 323: Colombia, 305-308;
Ecuador, 273-276, 285; of El Gran
Chaco, 176-184; Guiana, 348; Inca
Empire, 161-175; Mura, 247-248;
Onas, 16-18; pampa, 47-48; Quitos,
173; shooting fish with bow and
arrow from canoe on the Rio Chapare,
249*; as slaves, 251-253, 254, 256;
Tehuelches, 21-27; Tobas, 179, 183-
184; one of the Uros making a canoe,
146*; Venezuela, 322, 338; Warraus,
322; Yaghans, 14-16; Yuracare, 248-
251, poling canoe upstream in the
Amazon Basin, 242*; Yurunas, 202;
Zaparo, 274.
Iodine, 117.
Iquique, 113, 119-121, 124; fleet of
ships from many countries at the
port of, loading nitrate of soda,
120*; harbor of, 117*.
Iquitos, 260, 261, 262; at head of
steamer navigation on the Amazon,
262*.
Iron, Argentine, 56; Brazil, 225, 226.
Irrigation, Bolivia, 133-134, 136;
Brazil, 208; Chile, 102*; among the
Incas, 164; Peru, 4*, 99*, 99-101,
100* 101*, 136.
Ivory, Ecuador, 280-283, 291.
Jaguar, 274, 334.
Javary River, village on, 254*.
Juliaca, 110.
Junin de los Andes, 32, 34.
Juntas Valley, 136, 246.
Kaieteur Falls, 346.
Keller, 268.
La Guaira, 5, 316, 317, 318.
Laguna de Guatayoc, 60.
Laguna del Portezuelo, 59.
Lake Nahuel Huapi, 30, 31*, 32;
district of, 34.
La Mesa, 310.
Lange, Gunnar, 180.
La Paz, 108, 145, 146, 149, 152-
156, 175; market scene in, 154*;
moving day in, 143*; view of, 156*.
La Plata estuary, 3, 63, 64, 197.
La Plata River, 42, 47, 65, 196.
La Rioja, 56.
Latacunga, 285.
Lauricocha, Lake, 242.
Ledesma, sugar works, 178*.
Lelejo, 30.
Lima, 105-108, 175; fertile irrigated
garden farms near, 4*; general view
near, 106*.
Lion, mountain, 276.

xviii SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

Llamas, Argentine, 60, 61; Bolivia,
134, 139, 140; caravan of, at
Challapata, 142*; Peru, 139, 140.
Llaneros, 325.
Llanos, of Venezuela, 314-341; animal
life of the, 332-334; cattle driving in
the northern, 331-332; seaport in
the, 328-330.
Los Repollos, 31.
Lota, 82.
Madeira River, 239, 240, 259;
cataracts of, 264; falls of the, 259*,
265*.
Madeira-Mamore Railroad, 260*.
Magdalena delta, 311.
Magdalena River, 300, 301-305, 308,
311; canoe loaded with bananas on
the, 337*; group of native washer
women, near Barranquilla on the,
295*; La Gloria on the, 306*; river
steamer on, 304*; scene on the lower,
301*; wood station on, 305*.
Magellan, Strait of, 18, 19, 27, 80,
81.
Mahogany, Brazil, 228; Venezuela,
335.
Mamore River, 183.
Manaos, 234, 254-255, 258, 260;
general view of the port of, 255*;
market of, 256*.
Manatee, 333.
Mangroves, Guiana, 343; Venezuela,
323
Manioc, 190, 266.
Maracaibo, 341.
Maracaibo, Lake, 339, 340.
Maripa, 337.
Markham, Sir Clements, 268.
Matari 247
Matilla', oasis of, 121, 124, 126, 126*.
Matto Grosso, 70, 71, 211, 216, 269.
Mendoza, 54.
Minas Geraes, 224, 225, 226, 227.
Minerals, Argentine, 56-58; Bolivia,
110, 128, 130, 134; Brazil, 199,
,224-227; Chile, 82-83; Peru, 107,
1108, 110, 131*.
Mollendo, 87, 108, 110, 111.
Mompos, 305.
Money, Bolivian ten-cent piece, 141*.
Monkeys, 274, 334.
Montevideo, 195, 196-197.
Mountains, Andes, 3, 6, 29-30, 37,
38, 55, 75, 85, 88*, 137*, 147*, 148*,
239, 246*, 297, 298, 300, 308; of
the Brazil coast, 204-205; Cerro
Munchique, 299; Chimborazo, 162,
271, 271*; Corcovado, 233; Cordil
lera de Choco, 299; Cordilleras,
156-160, 298; Cotopaxi, 270-271;
Famatina, 57; Guadeloupe, 312;
Huayna Potosi, 157; Illimani, 157;
Moncerrate, 312; Pao de Assucar
(Sugar-loaf), 233; Pichincha, 285;
Roraima, 346; San Ruiz, 312; Serra
Pacaraima, 338; Serra Parima, 338;

Sierra Nevada de Merida, 320;
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, 299,
308; Sorata, 157; Tolima, 312.
Mules, Brazil, 199, 227; Venezuela,
329
Mura Indians, 247-248.
Nahuel Huapi, Lake, 30, 31*, 32;
district, 34.
Napo Valley, wild tribes of the, 274-
275
Negro River, 27, 30, 34, 37, 239, 252,
254.
Negroes of the hot lowlands,
305-306; see also Black Race.
Neiva River, 302.
Neuquen, 30.
Nevados de Araca, 130.
Nickel, Argentine, 56.
Nickerie, 344.
Nitrate of soda, 11, 111, 114-122;
ready for transportation, 116*; ships
from many countries at port of
Iquique, loading, 120*.
Nitrate ports, 119-122; fields and,
114*.
Novita, 306.
Nutrias, 330.
Oases, Matilla, 121, 124, 126, 126*;
Soncor, 115*; Tarapaca, 124-127.
Oran, 178.
Oranges, Paraguay, 185-186.
Orinoco, basin, 296; delta, 321*,
322-327, 339; lowlands, 6.
Orinoco River, 297, 320, 321, 322-
324, 326-327, 328, 330, 333, 339,
343.
Oruro, 155.
Ostrich hunting, 22-24.
Otter, 333.
Pages, 179.
Paguei River, crossing the, 329*,
Paillara, 333.
Palms, 213, 334.
Pampas, 37-48; animals, 45-46; birds
and insects, 44-45; farming, 42;
gauchos, 46-47 ; grasses, 41 ; Indians,
47-48; mirage and cloud scenery,
39-41; plowing, 38*; prairie dog,
43-44; railroad, 52*; rainfall, 42,
vegetation map of South America,
between pp. 316 and 317*; winds,
41-42.
Panama Canal, 103.
Panama hat, 279, 291.
Pao de Assucar (Sugar-loaf), 233,
233*.
Para (Belem), 10, 258, 265-267; boat
landing, 261*; municipal theater,
266*.
Paraguay, 9, 185-191, 192, 215, 216;
cattle, 191; cities, 188*, 191, see
also names of cities; climate, 187-188;
floods, 187 ; forests, 189; Gran Chaco,
176-184; homes, 190, 191; oranges,

THE INDEX

XIX

185-186; people, 190-191; physical
features, 187-188; population, 187;
¦ tea, 185; woman of, smoking, 190*.
Paraguay River, 37, 70, 177, 188-
189
Paramaribo, 353, 354; view of, the
capital of Dutch Guiana, 353*.
Paramos, 276, 299-300; of Andes,
vegetation map, between pp. 316 and
317*.
Parana, city, 68, bird's-eye view of,
68*; state, 216.
Parana River, 37, 64, 65, 70, 189;
dredging a channel, 67*; falls of,
189; grasslands of the valley of the,
70-72; scene on, 65*.
Patagonia, 11, 21-34, 48, 56; animals,
28, 29; climate, 33; forests, 27;
grazing, 30, 31, 32; meaning of
word, 21; "No Man's Land," 21;
railways, 34; rainfall, 28; shingle
plain, 28-29; surface, 27-28; Welsh
settlers, 31-34; western, 30-31.
Patia River, 300.
Payta, 84, 91-92, 93, 279; British
steamer with Chinese rice at, 91*;'
i flock of goats and shepherds at, 95*;
stream channel used as a street in,
94*.
Peccary, 334, 346.
People, see Races of Man.
Pernambuco (Recife), harbor of, 236;
. inner harbor of, 208*; ox cart in,
206*; shipping at port of, 207*.
Peru, 3, 5, 9, 11, 192, 209, 225, 263,
279; animals, 95, 95*, 134, 139,
140-143; barley, 155; borax, 111;
boundary disputes, 73, 110-112;
cactus, 150; central coast region,
100; cities, 91-93, 96-99, 104-110,
see also names of cities; climate,
86-87, 90, 163; coastal desert, 84-
127; cotton, 5*, 11, 92, 94; earth
quake, 122-124; farming, 135-136;
fishing, 143-145; floods, 92; forests,
86, 106; fuel, 149-152; grazing,
139-140, 163; highland dwellers,
128-160; home in., western, 110*;
hunting, 142; Incas, 161-175; irriga
tion, 4*, 99*, 99-101, 100*, 101*,
136; Mecca of, 105; minerals, 107,
108, 110, 131*; Nile of Northern, 92;
northern coast region, 99*; potatoes,
155, 166*; products, 101-102, 155;
railways, 107-110; rainfall, 93-94,
127; rice, -92, 103; southern coast
region, 101*; sugar, 11, 92, 95;
terraced alluvial fans of the-plateau
of, 134-136; trade of the coast valleys
of, 101-103; wool, 142, 144*, 155.
Pica, 121, 125.
Pichincha, 285.
Pilcomayo River, 177, 178-181.
Pisagua, 113, 119, 122.
Piura, 92; rainfall, 93; rice, 103.
Piura River, 92; goat herds of the
valley of the, 95.

Plantations, coffee, 210*, 220-221;
sugar, 344, 345*.
Poopo, Lake, 145.
Population of South America,
density of, facing p. 316*, see also
Races of Man.
Port Desire, 28.
Port San Julian, 28.
Porto Madryn, 34.
Porto Velho, 240, 259, 260*.
Portuguese, 6, 192, 203, 211, 353.
Potaro River, 346.
Potatoes, 159*; Bolivia, 155; Peru,
155, 166*; Venezuela, 337.
Potosi, 129, 132*.
Puma, 274, 334.
Puna de Atacama, 59.
Puno, 109, 110, 145; port of, 147*.
Punta Arenas, 19-20; part of the
town of, 18*; position of, in regard
to ocean trade routes, 19.
Quebracho, 176, 182*.
Quito, 162, 285; city of the equator,
283*; old Spanish church, La
Compania, in, 272*; street in, 284*.
Races of man, South America, facing
p. 317*.
Railroads, Argentine, 52*, 53-56
Bolivia, 85*; Brazil, 201*, 217, 218
Chile, 10*, 113*, 122; Patagonia, 34
Peru, 107-110; of South America.
political map between pp. 8 and 9*
of Southern South America, facing
p. 35*; Venezuela, 317-318.
Rainfall of South America, mean
annual, facing p. 8*; mean January,
facing p. 202*; mean July, facing p.
203*.
Ranch life in Venezuela, 330.
Rawson, 34.
Recife, see Pernambuco.
Religion, Brazil Indians, 203 ; Catholic
175; Chile, 125-126; Incas, 167-169,
173-174; Indian, 125; Peru, 125-
126.
Reptiles, 334'.
Rhea, see ostrich.
Riberalta, 260, 264.
Rice, in Brazil, 212, 214-215; British
Guiana, 344; Dutch Guiana, 344;
Ecuador, 278, 291; French Guiana,
344; Gran Chaco, 176; Guiana, 344,
345; Peru, 92, 103; Venezuela, 337,
338.
Rimac Valley, 107.
Rio Ariguani, 308.
Riobamba, 285; up-country hospital
ity among the natives in, 281*.
Rio Chapare, see Chapare River.
Rio Chubut, see Chubut River.
Rio de Janeiro, 206, 210, 219, 226,
230-235; Avenida Central, a street
in, 232*; Botafogo, 231*, 233; city
and harbor, view of, 233*; harbor,

XX SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

234-235; Monroe Palace, 234*;
population, 234.
Rio de la Plata, see La Plata River.
Rio Gallegos, see Gallegos River.
Rio Grande, 183.
Rio Negro, see Negro River.
Rio Theodoro, 269.
"River of Doubt," 269.
Rivers, Amazon, 3, 6, 84, 206, 237-
242, 238*, 241*, 242*, 264, 268-
269, 297; Apure, 328, 328*, 329,
330, 331; Atrato, 300; Babahoyo,
277*; Bermejo, 177, 178; Bogota,
311; Bravo, 65; Canuma, 264;
Catatumbo, 339; Cauca, 300, 305;
Caura, 336-338; Cesar, 301, 308;
Chapare, 248, 249*; Chubut, 30, 32,
33; Corentyn, 344; Demarara 353;
Desaguadero, 144, 145, 146*; Esse
quibo (River of Stones), 349-350,
351; Funza, 311; Gallegos, 28*; of
the Gran Chaco, 177; Guaviare, 300;
Guayas, 277, 288, 291; Ibicuy, 66;
Iguassu, 65, 189; Javary, 254*; La
Plata, 42, 47, 65, 196; Madeira, 239,
240, 259, 259*; Magdalena, 295*,
300, 301-305, 304*, 305*, 306*.
308, 311, 337*; Mamore, 183;
Negro, 27, 30, 34, 37, 239, 254;
Neiva, 302; Orinoco, 297, 320, 321,
322-324, 326-327, 328, 330, 333,
339, 343; Paguei, 329*; Paraguay,
37, 70, 177, 188-189; Parana, 37,
64, 65*, 67*, 70, 189; Patia, 300;
Pilcomayo, 177, 178-181; Potaro,
346; Piura, 92; Rio Ariguani, 308;
Rio Grande, 183; Salado, 37; San
Juan, 306; Surinam, 354; Tapajos,
203, 241*, 264; Theodoro, 269;
Tocantins, 202, 264; Tortuga, 333;
Xingu, 202-203, 264- Yapacani,
183; Zulia, 339.
Roca, General, 48. >
Rondon, Colonel, 269.
Roosevelt, 269.
Roraima, 346.
Rosario, 66-68.
Royal Cordillera, see Cordillera Real.
Rubber, 257*, 258*; in Amazonia,
251-253, 255-269; Bolivia, 183,
200;- Brazil, 199; commerce, 259-
269; Ecuador, 272; Guiana, 344;
Venezuela, 335.
Sacsahuaman, Fort, 170, 171*.
Salado River, 37.
Salaverry, port of, 96*.
Salt, Amazon Valley, 264; Argen
tine, 37, 59; Bolivia, 138* 146-148,
148*, 264; Brazil, 230; Chile, 11*;
Colombia, 297-298.
San Antonio, 258, 260.
San Fernando, 331.
San Juan River, 306.
San Martin de los Andes, 32, 34,
San Nicolas, 68.
San Pedro, 68.

San Ruiz, 312.
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 181-183.
Santa Fe, 68; view of an irrigated
garden in the Loa Valley, 102*.
Santa Marta, 311.
Santa Rosa, 264; one of the eastern
towns at the headwaters of a plains
stream, 252*.
Santarem, 241.
Santos, 10, 219; central market of,
219*; coffee, loading for the U. S.
market at, 224*; coffee warehouse at,
223*.
Sao Francisco Valley, 207.
Sao Paulo, 215, 219, 220; drying
coffee in, 222*.
Sao Roque, Cape, 205, 207, 208.
Sao Salvador, see Bahia.
Sao Thome, 280.
Sarsaparilla, 335.
Savanilla, 311.
Savannas of South America, vege
tation map between pp. 316 and'
317*.
Serra Pacaraima, 338.
Serra Parima, 338.
Sheep, Argentine, 46, 52, 60*;
Bolivia, 134, 139; Brazil, 227;
Patagonia, 28; Peru, 134, 139.
Shepherd, highland, 139-140.
Sierra Nevada de Merida, 320.
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, 299,
308.
Silver, Argentine, 56; Bolivia, 134;
Brazil, 225; Peru, 108, 131*.
Slaves, Indian, 251-253, 254, 256;
negro, 223.
Soda, see Nitrate of Soda.
Soledad, 328.
Soncor, oasis of, 115*.
Sorata, 157.
South America, 123; cities, political
map, between pp. 8 and 9*, see also
names of cities; climate, mild belts,
facing p. 9*; deserts, vegetation map
between pp. 316 and 317*; exports,
261, 278; flora, vegetation map
between pp. 316 and 317*; forests,
vegetation map between pp. 316 and
317*; harbors and products, 9-13;
hunting ground of, 314-316; mild
belts, facing p. 9*; missionaries, 3;
pampas, vegetation map between pp.
316 and 317*; people of, and the
land they conquered, 1-13; political
map, between pp. 8 and 9*; popula
tion, 192-193 ; population, density of,
facing p. 316*; races of man, facing
p. 317*; railroads, political map
between pp. 8 and 9*; rainfall, mean
annual, facing p. 8*; rainfall, mean
January, facing p. 202*; rainfall,
mean July, facing p. 203*; relief map,
between pp. 202 and 203*; savanna,
vegetation map between pp. 316 and
317*; soil, 4; Southern, facing p. 35*;
temperature, mean January, facing

THE INDEX

xxi

p. 124*; temperature, mean July,
facing p. 125*; vegetation map
between pp. 316 and 317*; wars of
emancipation, 4-6.
Southern South America, facing p.
35*.
Southernmost city In the world, 18.
Spaniards, 4-5, 6, 7, 8, 47, 64, 76,
104, 161, 175, 192, 203, 310, 340,
341 353
Spoonbill, 44, 332.
Squatters, see Argentine.
Steamship routes, 102-103, political
map between pp. 8 and 9*.
Straw (.planta de Toquilla) ,279.
Straw boat on the ocean, 103.
Sucre, 141.
Sugar, Argentine, 10; Brazil, 212,
213, 227, 229; British Guiana, 344,
345*, 353; Dutch Guiana, 344;
Ecuador, 278, 291, 292*; French
Guiana, 344, 345; Guiana, 344,
345; Peru, 11, 92, 95; Venezuela,
318, 329, 337; works at Ledesma,
178*.
Sugar-loaf, see Pao de Assucar.
Sun worship, 167-169.
Surinam River, 354.
Tacaloa, 305.
Tacna, province, 110, 111; town, 110.
Taltal, 98, 112, 113; hauling water at,
97*.
Tapajos River, 203, 241*, 264.
Tapir, 276, 334, 346 ; and young, 347*.
Tarapaca, 111.
Tarapaca Desert, caravan starting
on a journey across, 87*; oases, 124-
127; prosperous oasis of Matilla in,
126*.
Tea, Brazil, 215-217; Paraguay, 185.
Tehuelches, 21-27, 23*, 25*, 26*.
Temblador, 337.
Temperature of South America,
mean January, facing p. 124*; mean
July, facing p. 125*.
Tenerife, 305.
Tequendama, Falls of, 311.
Thouar, 179.
Tierra del Fuego, 16-18; climate, 17;
forests, 17.
Titicaca, Lake, 84, 144, 147*;
C\ steamers of, 145-146.
Tobacco, 10, 227, 266, 278.
Tocantins River, 202, 264.
Tocantins, village of, 267.
Tocopilla, 113, 122.
"Toldo" or tent, home of a Tehuelche
family, 26*.
Tolima, 312.
Tonka beans, 337.
Tortuga River, 333.
Transportation, on the Amazon, 258,
261, 262; in the Argentine, 58-59;
bullock wagons, 53-54; llama, 140-
141, 142*; mule carts, 179*; pack

train, 58*, 303*; water, 303, 304*;
see also railroads.
Trelcw, 34.
Trinidad, 260, 264.
Tucotuco, 30.
Turn man, 54.
Turtles, 266-267, 268*, 274, 333.
Citarte, picking cotton with Chinese
labor on irrigated land at foot of
Andes, 5*.
Uruguay, 71, 192-198, 215, 216;
area, 193; cities, 194-197; climate,
193; farming, 194, 195, 196; grazing,
194; products, 194; size, 193; wars,
197-198; wool, 194.
Valencia, 5, 331.
Valley of the 16th of October, 31-
34.
Valparaiso, 77, 84, 124; meaning of
word, 77; monument to Prat y
Bahia in, 78*.
Vegetation map of South America,
between pp. 316 and 317*.
Venezuela, 3, 5, 294, 314-341;
animals, 325, 329, 330, 331, 332-
334; bananas, 337; cacao, 329;
cattle on their way to market,
llanos of, 331*; cedar, 335; cinchona,
335; cities, 316-319, 328, see also
names of cities; coastal features, 339;
coffee, 329; delta plains of the
Orinoco in, 322-324; floods, 326;
forests, 334-336; fruit, 329; govern
ment, 314-316; grasslands, 324-325;
grazing, 322; harbors, 339; homes,
327, 335*, 341; hunting ground of
South America, 314-316; Indians,
322, 338; "little Venice" of, 339-
341; llanos, 314-341, 324-325, 329,
330, 331-334; mahogany, 335;
mangroves, 323, 339; marshes, 322;
mountains, 314-341; outline of,
319-320; palms, 334; people, 336-
339; plains, 320-325; potatoes, 337;
prairie fires of the grasslands, 330-
331; railroads, 317-318; rainfall,
331, 332, 340; ranch life, 330, 335*;
rice, 337, 338; rivers, 326-327, 327*,
329, 336-338; rubber, 335; sarsa-
parilla, 335; scenery, 316-319, 324-
325; sugar, 318, 329, 337; tonka
beans, 337; towns, 316-319; wars,
315- western, on the road to Barinas,
320*.
Venezuela, Gulf of, 340.
Vespucius, Americus, 229, 340.
Vicuna, 45, 142, 143.
Villa Argentina, 56.
Villa Bella, 264.
Villa Constitucion, 68.
Villa del Pilar, 191.
Villa Rica, 191.
Vineyards, 79, 80*.
Vizcacha, 29, 43-44, 148.
Volcanoes, 270, 285, 299, 312.

xxu SOUTH AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHY READER

Wallace, 268.
Wars, Chile and Peru, 73, 110, 112;
Colombia, 312-313; of Emancipation,
4-6; Guiana, 350; Inca, 172-173;
Uruguay, 197-198; Venezuela, 315.
Wax, 230.
Welsh, 31-34.
Wheat, 48; croppers at work in one of
the great fields of the Argentine
Republic, 50*.
White race, Races of Man, facing
p. 317*.
Whymper, 270.
Wine, Brazil, 229; Chile, 79, 80.

Wool, 11, 33; Bolivia, 142, 155; Peru,
142, 144*, 155; Uruguay, 194.
Xingu River, 264.
Xingu Valley, 202-203.
Yaghans, 14-16.
Yankees of South America, 73-74.
Yapacani River, 183.
Yellow race, Races of Man, facing
p. 317*.
Zarate, 68.
Zipaquira, 310.
Zulla River, 339.

3 9002 01410